Minori
by linkinparkfan9799
Summary: Rated T for Gore and Cursing. Lucy has made a resolution to not kill for a whole year. So far, it's been swell. One day while she's working, a girl comes up bruised in several places. They take her in and for a while it's all innocent, but then problems start to occur with the facility, and it's up to Lucy to protect the girl and keep to her goal at all costs.
1. Resolution

Linkinparkfan9799 Stories

_Elfen Lied-Anime (Warning: Lucy's Past is in fact not to-the-fact correct)_

_Rated T for Gore and Cursing_

**Minori**

_**Chapter 1**_

_**Resolution: Lucy**_

Hi. My name's Lucy.

I'm something called a Diclonius and I was born without the whole 'pass it down' gene, so most who know of my race consider me a 'Queen'. They are a race of girls or boys born with horns, the girls having pink hair and I believe the boys are born bald. Seeing as I work at an ice-cream stand with an overly friendly woman with multiple jobs, I obviously don't have much education.

I work because of where I live, that being the Maple Inn. Four other people live there called Kouta, Yuka, Mayu, and Nana (who is also a Diclonius). Kouta has suffered in his life, having witnessed his sister's and father's death caused by me. Yuka is in love with Kota, that being obvious to someone not as dumb as Kota when it comes to girls. Mayu is a thirteen-year-old who ran away because her mom loved her step-dad more and her step-dad kept asking her to bend over so he'd see her ass. She eventually came to the Maple Inn and after Kouta talked to her mom, she was put under our care. Nana is a Diclonius who was locked up ever since she was born. She believed a man named Kurama was her 'papa' and so she lived on through the tedious and painful tests and experiments. She was sent to find me and take me back to the facility, seeing I ran. That didn't work out and I ended up cutting off her arms and legs. She now has plastic ones she moves with her vectors and the only reason she's at the Maple Inn is because her 'papa' shipped her off so she wouldn't be executed. Seeing we have five people living in the Inn, some of us have to get up and pull some weight.

That overly friendly woman I work with is called Hoshi or 'star'. She has multiple jobs (as mentioned): ice-cream-stand-owner, dog walker, clown, etc. If you can name a dead-end job, she has it. That sadly includes hooker. She lives in an average apartment somewhere in the city area of Kamagawa, Japan. Her father died from a heart-attack and her mom is a wealthy woman who ignores her completely. She has two older brothers who are doctors and three younger sisters who are in high-school, middle-school, and kindergarten. Hoshi herself is twenty-years-old and is a blonde. No matter how much she objects to 'blonde jokes', people still say behind her back she's the reason for them.

I'm an orphan. My dad ran away when I was little and my mom committed suicide. I was left in the middle of nowhere until someone found me and took me to an orphanage. That's where I started hearing my killer instinct and using my vectors, seeing three boys beat a beloved dog of mine and a girl I told the dog's secret existence too sold the tiny puppy out, smiling in supposed 'secret'. I killed all four at the age of eleven. I then killed others just to live in their houses. I killed maybe twelve bystanders at a festival because I went off the edge. I killed Kota's father and sister because I wanted him to suffer. My past is littered in blood.

I was cornered on a bridge one day, trying to save everyone the trouble of me. When they fired, they blew off my horn, the other having been cut off by Number 35 or 'Mariko', a five-year-old Diclonius off her rocker. Two vectors stubbornly protected me, so I lived. I killed more that day, and when I went back to the Maple Inn, I told them what I had done. Never the less, they let me stay. It's crazy, right? Letting a murderer stay in your home? Yeah, it is, but they did it. So, on the previous New Years, I made the resolution of **not killing a soul for a year. **Anything beyond that point should be well controlled. So far, seeing's it is May, it's gone well. Not a soul dead by my hand yet.

Well, my horns are back now. I'm working now. It's peaceful…

…if you don't count the ten kids screaming out their orders.

"Eh? Pistachio?" Hoshi panics. "Straw-merry? Please! Calm down everyone!"

I chuckle and hand a girl blueberry, her eyes twinkling. "Thank you!" she giggles.

The rest of my shift goes something along the lines of that torture. Once the sun starts to set, I grab my back-pack and wave good-bye to Hoshi. "See you tomorrow~" she giggles.

I walk slowly down the streets, staring at the orange sky. Another day coming to a close. I feel a tug on the back of my shirt and turn to a little girl with pink shaggy hair and a tiny white cap on her head. It sticks out considering the white, frilly dress she has on. "Excuse me, miss?" she coughs. "Do you know where I could get some money?"

I stare at her state and see the little bulges from her cap. _Don't kill a soul. But…_"How old are you?" I blurt.

"Seven," she blinks up innocently. I can see the multiple bruises. "Today's my birthday."

_May 3, huh? _"Well, happy birthday. Now can I get going?"

Her eyes tear up a little. "Please? I'm alone."

"Don't you have parents?" I spit.

"Well, they left me. They just left a paper called 'Will'."

I blink. _A will…they're dead. _I sigh and pat her head. "Okay, why don't I take you home so we can find you a job?"

She nods and wobbles next to me. Why am I doing this? Oh, only because she's dumb enough to not be a threat.

**Well, I hope you review~**


	2. Anew

Linkinparkfan9799 Stories

_Elfen Lied-Anime _

_Rated T for Gore and Cursing_

**Minori**

_**Chapter Two**_

_**Anew: Minori**_

Hi. My name's Minori.

I don't know what I am. All I know is that I have pink hair and horns sticking out of my head. I also know my parent's praised me for such.

I don't have a home anymore. My parents left and just left behind a piece of paper called 'Will'. I don't want a piece of paper; I want my mommy and daddy! I used to live in a comfy little house with a fairly sized backyard. It was tall with light blue walls, the frames and window-panes nice and black. I lived in there all my life, up until now. All I had were my mommy and daddy. My mommy was a nurse with long black hair and the prettiest honey-gold eyes. My daddy had rusty hair and speckled green eyes. He worked as an engineer. I was usually home with a baby-sitter who had pretty blue eyes and long blonde hair. She usually wore stuff that showed a lot of her skin and body and she always smelled like expired meat.

All I can say is I had a pretty good run until my parents left me by myself. When the baby-sitter came, she screamed when she went into the kitchen and shoved me out of my own house! I think it had something to do with that metallic scent I got from the kitchen.

Now I'm following this lady. I don't really care what happens, I just want Mommy and Daddy. As the sun disappears, we near a huge Inn with sliding doors and traditional Japanese plants. "Wow~" I beam. "It's big! Do you live here with someone?"

The lady nods. "Yep." She slides the front open and tugs me to the actual front door, sliding it open. "I'm back!" she calls. "Hey, I have a little girl who needs help!"

A guy with black, croppy hair and blue eyes comes into the hall, spotting the two of us. "Huh. She looks like she was hit a few times…"

"I fell," I shrug. "My babysitter shoved me out of the front door and there are steps."

Both blink and the lady guides me into a dining room/kitchen. Three girls are sitting around a table, two maybe eleven to thirteen and the other one is a lady maybe this lady's age. "Oh hello," the second lady waves to me. "Who are you?"

"M-Minori," I hide behind the first lady a little.

The first lady pats my head. "Well, I'm Lucy," she then points to the other girl with horns, "that's Nana," and then the girl next to her with a bob of brown hair, "that's Mayu," then to the boy, "that's Kota," and lastly to the other lady, "and that's Yuka."

"Nice to meet you!" Mayu smiles.

Kota sits down and Lucy sits down as well, patting the ground next to her. I wobble over and sit. "So, what are we going to do with her?" Yuka asks Kota.

"Well, depends," he shrugs. "Do you have par-"

"They left," I state. "They left a paper named 'Will'."

Kota and Yuka exchange glances before turning back to me. "Any other relatives?" I shake my head. "Friends?" I, again, shake my head. "Hm. Well, I _guess _you could stay as long as you help with chores…"

I beam and nod. "I'll do my best Kota-kun!"

Lucy eyes me and turns to Mayu. "Hey, do you think you could check out those bruises?"

Mayu nods and walks out. Lucy motions me to follow her, so I do so. We enter a bathroom where she checks for the tender spots and tapes ice packs onto the purple areas. It's cold. We come out and re-enter the kitchen to a great smell. I sniff and look around to see Yuka stirring something in a pot. "Oh, you're back!" she smiles. "Dinner's almost…ready?"

I'm next to Yuka, on my tip-toes to try and look into the pot. "That's a lot of clouds," I state.

She giggles and pats the area in between my horns. "It's actually steam, sweetie."

I blink my big, red-pink eyes and drop back to the floor, skipping over to the door and looking around. "Where's everyone else?" I squeak.

"They went to wash their hands in the other bathroom," she sets bowls around the table. "Oh, and how old are you?"

"Seven!" I twirl around. "Today's my birthday!"

"Oh really?" she smiles. "That's great!"

Someone pats my head from behind and I turn to Lucy. "Now let's see if you can live for an eighth," she chuckles.

"Oh Lucy!" Yuka huffs. "Don't-"

I smile and nod. "I will! I promise, Lucy-san!"

Lucy laughs and Kota walks in with an extra chair, setting it in the spot where I was originally. Nana comes in with a little puppy, it's eye like black marbles. "Mayu, Wonta won't stop-Ack-fussing."

Mayu takes Wonta and sits down in her seat on my other side, setting Wonta in her lap. Yuka fills the bowls with white stuff and eventually sits in her own seat. I stare at the white balls and poke it with a chopstick, blinking. "You've never had rice balls before?" Lucy asks.

"Rice?" I blink. "Like the stuff Mommy puts in Curry?"

"Uh, the white grains, yeah."

"Oh!" I smile.

She sighs as I try eating it grain by grain. "You hold it by the seaweed."

I blink and examine it. "You mean this green stuff?" I poke at it with the chopstick. She nods. "Okay…" I pick it up with both hands in the designated area and chomp off the top. "Mmm…" I sparkle. "Tasty!"

"Don't talk with your mouth full," Yuka giggles.

I cover my mouth and giggle myself. This feeling with these people…it feels like I'm born anew~


	3. Veggies

Linkinparkfan9799 Stories

_Elfen Lied-Anime_

_Rated T for Gore and Cursing_

**Minori**

_**Chapter Three**_

_**Veggies: Lucy**_

I yawn as I scrub the window furiously.

I mean Jesus Christ how can a window have dirt practically _born _on it. I eventually get pissed enough to check for tiny Umbilical cords. My mind twists the innocent chirping of bystander-birds into mocking laughter. "Shut up!" I hiss, scrubbing once more.

Yuka comes out with a tray: a plate of toast and simple OJ. She raises a brow as I mutter to the dirt, sometimes swearing to kill their dirt-mothers when the year ends. "Uh…Lucy?" I look up at her. "You _do _know that the dirt is _not_ a walking Terrorist, right?"

"How am I to know?" I say dramatically. "For all I see, they could be that very thing _in disguise_."

She sighs and sets the tray on the ground. "Don't say that. We have a seven-year-old in the house now and who knows how gullible she is?"

I shrug and just continue scrubbing to no avail. "I have to assume she doesn't really care about her life as much as she should. I mean, she _did_ have faith in a total stranger." Yuka nods sadly and walks off. I sigh and scrub harder. "You shall disappear you piece of-"

My arm goes through the glass. I curse a few and Minori comes into the hall. "Hello Lucy-san~" she sings, skipping over with her white cap snug on her head. "What 'cha doing?" She's rocking with her hands clasped behind her back.

"Breaking windows, obviously," I chuckle, taking my arm back and slowly wriggling out the shards of glass. "That, and killing dirt."

She gasps and covers her mouth. "Why would you kill dirt?" she whimpers. "Did it do something bad?"

I'm starting to see what Yuka was just finished talking about. I think hard and rough. _How to lie to this kid...I got it! _"Because they didn't eat their vegetables."

Classics first, right? Minori gulps. "B-But you don't _have _to eat your vegetables, do you?" she tugs the cap lower.

"Actually, you do, otherwise you disappear like these fellas. I'm saving them from the Veggie monster who usually does the job."

She screams and runs off. I sigh. _Okay, too far Lucy, too far. _I try to scoop the glass scattered on the floor up when Kota comes up, Minori clinging to his leg. "Lucy!" he snaps. "Why'd you tell Minori all that?-!"

"Oh, do you want me to tell her I'm 'killing dirt' because it did _nothing_?" I point out, crossing my arms. "I'm saving them from the veggie monster, right Minori?"

Minori nods. Kota sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. "There is no veggie monster."

"Yes," I argue. "I warned her, so I'm saving her."

Minori beams and tackles my legs. "Thank you, Lucy-san!"

_Gullible-Gene on a scale of one to ten: eight. _You have to admit, she was smart enough to at least ask a person first. Ugh…Now I'm talking to myself. Kota rolls his eyes. "Lunch is out," he informs, walking back.

"Are there veggies?" Minori tugs at my skirt.

I shrug. "Could be, could be not. If there is, you make sure you eat them up. Maybe one day you'll be able to stop because you're-" I pick her up-"-big and strong enough to scare the Veggie monster away."

"Yay!" she claps her hands. "Defeat meanie monster!"

I smile a little and pat her head with my free hand. I enter the kitchen and set her on her feet, but she just hugs me around my hips, smiling like an idiot. I chuckle and sit down, Minori still attached and now belly-down on the floor. "Aw," Mayu giggles. "She likes you!"

"Lucy saved me from Veggie meanie," Minori informs.

Now that I think about it, Minori means 'truth', so yeah, I'm expecting that. "Veggie meanie?" Nana wonders, her vegetables piled to one side of the plate.

I smirk. _Time to screw. _"Oh yeah, didn't I tell you? Surely someone warned you of the Veggie monster?" I ask sweetly. She shakes her head slowly, Mayu raising a brow. "Well, the Veggie monster-"

Here is one reason why I'm liking Minori. She interrupts, "The Veggie monster is this big, scary meanie who eats anyone who doesn't eat their vegetables! He comes while you're sleeping and gobbles you up like _ULP_," she motions shoving something big in her mouth. "The only way to keep him away is to eat your vegetables otherwise you might have to be killed before to be saved from the oozy insides that you have to be forced though to be digested and suffocated!"

Nana screams and stuffs her face with all the vegetables on her plate, being scared enough to work on Mayu's. Mayu tries to calm Nana down, laughing nervously. Kota, next to me, sighs and hangs his shaking head. Yuka enters from the bathroom and watches Nana panic and Minori gently clamp her lips over her fork with a single pea on it, closing her eyes and little hearts and flowers seeming to appear around her glowing head. "Mmm~" she giggles, the fork still in her mouth.

I watch her with a raised brow as Nana starts crying. "I-I don't want to be digested by some monster!"

Yuka eyes me and I shrug, my lips and cheeks bulging as I try to hold back my laughter. She rolls her eyes and tries to help Mayu with Nana. Minori sees me separate the peas and the carrots and the rice and the chicken all into four piles. "What are you doing?" Minori slips the fork out of her mouth.

"Eh, I like to separate my food sometimes into groups," I shrug. I point to the carrots, "Carrots, Peas," I point to the peas. I point to the chicken, "Chicken, and rice," I point to where the rice _was_ when I see Kota eating it. "What are you doing?"

"This is payment for making us put up with the 'Veggie monster'," he chuckles.

I smirk and flick a pea at his head. "Go ahead, enjoy it while you can before I hide all the rice from you forever! Muhahahahaha~" Minori giggles and tries taking my carrots. That's when everyone starts taking someone else's whatever from their plates.

When night falls, I'm walking around to get to the kitchen for water when I see a room is still lit. I narrow my eyes to fix the blur and see Minori sitting at the door, holding a pillow to her chest. I sigh and sit next to her. "Hi Lucy!" she greets. "What are you doing out here?"

"Trying to find the kitchen again," I yawn. "What about you?"

"I'm waiting for the Veggie monster!" she explains. "I want to see if I can handle him."

I blink and pat her head. "You probably could." I then pick her up. "But you need to sleep a night to let the vegetables kick in. Besides, everyone here ate vegetables today, so he won't come tonight."

She smiles and lets me set her on the mat, setting the blanket over her tiny body. She yawns and stretches out her arms, taking off the cap. I blink at the sight of her tiny horns sticking out of her head. She puts the pillow under her head and I pat her head. "Good night, Lucy-san~" she giggles, closing her wide, innocent eyes.

My lips open slightly. Not many people in life had said that to me, but…I've known her for about a day now, and she already treats me like a human. I pat my head and find my horns are revealed. Not like she would mind that. I pat her head once more. "Good night, Minori-san," I whisper before walking out and back into my room, no longer feeling thirsty and, instead, wondering.


	4. Fear and Courage

Linkinparkfan9799 Stories

_Elfen Lied-Anime_

_Rated T for Gore and Cursing_

**Minori**

_**Chapter Four**_

_**Fear and Courage: Minori**_

I yawn as I open up my eyes.

My cap is off, so I quickly grab it and tug it over my head. I stand and wobble out of the room, looking around and wandering into the kitchen, where only Lucy, Nana, and Mayu are. "Where are Kota and Yuka?" I wonder, looking under the table.

"Working," Mayu answers. "They have to work in order to get food."

I walk over next to Lucy's seat and sit in the vacant spot. "Morning Minori," she pats my head.

I beam. "Morning Lucy-san~" I sing, hugging her waist.

Nana blinks and pokes her plate with chopsticks, all means of vegetables out of place. "Stupid monster…" she mutters.

"Oh Nana-san," Mayu sighs. "You didn't have to eat the vegetables all at once…"

"I don't want some big monster breaking in and eating me! Especially with that horrid explanation!" she points to me.

"I didn't think it was horrid," Lucy plucks up some rice clump and sticks it in her mouth.

"That's because-"A big arm knocks Nana backwards. "OW! What the Hell?-!"

I blink. "What's Hell?"

Lucy sighs and Mayu laughs nervously. "It's a very bad place, Minori, and bad people go there."

I blink and smile. "Does that mean the Veggie Monster will go to Hell?"

"Oh boy, NANA!" Lucy groans. "Don't teach her new words!"

"But isn't learning a good thing?" I suck my thumb.

"Yeah Lucy," Nana sticks out her tongue.

Lucy points her finger at Nana and mouths something I can't catch. Nana covers her mouth and glares. I grab the chopsticks and prod at the food with it: Teriyaki chicken over fried rice with peas and carrots. I twist my fingers a little and eventually snap the chopsticks in half. I pout. "Meanie sticks," I try stabbing the food with the living halves.

Lucy stands and digs through a drawer to return with a fork and offers it to me. "Try this," she chuckles.

I accept it and eat my food with tiny hearts floating around my head. I try to grab one, but my hand just goes through it. "Aw…" I pout again.

Lucy chuckles again and pats my head. Nana pokes the area I was grabbing with a fork. "Is something supposed to be there?" she wonders.

"Minori's seven, remember?" Mayu whispers.

"What does my age have to do with the floating hearts?" I cock my head to the side.

"Nothing, absolutely nothing," Lucy resumes eating her food. I let it slide.

Later, Mayu leaves to go to 'school'. So that just leaves the pink-heads with horns, right? I walk around the 'Maple Inn' in search to find something to do, but I find Nana under a table with a pot on her head and a big knife I saw in the kitchen. First thought: Err… "Err…"

She pushes a finger to her lips and then turns back to the end of the hall. I walk over and see her staring at Lucy's back as she fusses with white orchids in a fat, brown pot. I skip over and she turns with a small smile. "Oh hey Minori," she releases the flowers.

"Lucy-san, what's Nana doing?" I point to the table Nana is hiding under.

I hear Nana groan slightly and Lucy chuckles, patting my head. "Being ridiculous, that's all."

"This is not ridiculous!" she stands up, knocking her head into the under-table. "OW!"

Lucy laughs and walks over to Nana, helping her out from under. "Let's get an ice-pack on that," Lucy leads her to the kitchen. "You coming, Minori?"

I nod and run after, eventually catching up and hugging Lucy around her waist. Lucy pushes the sliding door aside and steps in, dragging me with each step (seeing she's bigger), and grabs some ice from a container labeled 'medical ice'. "Why is there a bucket called 'medical ice'?" I tug on her shirt.

"Because, it's not clean to stick your hands in ice other people put in water sometimes. Yuka thought it'd be easier to just do this," Lucy explains as she wraps the ice in some paper towel and tapes it shut, pressing it in between Nana's horns. "Now keep that on until your head stops hurting."

"Yeah, yeah," Nana grumbles, sitting at the table. "What time is it?"

Lucy glances at a band on her wrist with a little circle attached. "Lunch time," she clicks her tongue against the roof of her mouth. "What do you want?"

"Ice cream," Nana snaps, although I don't see how it's offensive.

Lucy narrows her eyes at Nana, but I beam with join. "Do we have ice cream?" I tug on Lucy's shirt again.

"Well…" she looks around, dragging me as I refuse to let go (it's funny~). "Actually yeah, but that's more-"

"Ice cream!" I sit at the table. "Ice cream, ice cream, ice cream!"

"Alright, alright!" Lucy huffs. "Jeez, calm down, you didn't have sugar _yet_."

I giggle and she grabs three bowls and three spoons. I bounce as I wait and Nana raises a brow. "Do you have to go to the bathroom or something?" she huffs.

"No?" I blink. "I'm excited for ice cream!" I giggle.

Lucy sets a bowl in front of me with white ice cream inside, a spoon at the side. "Well, eat up," she pats my head.

I nod and grab the spoon, shoveling some in my mouth. "Yummy~" I bounce.

Lucy puts a hand on my head while I'm still bouncing. I blink at her as I continue. "Huh, so that's NOT where the 'off' button is…" she mumbles.

I laugh and we eat in silence (or somewhat silence, seeing I'm humming). "Would you stop humming?" Nana huffs.

"She can hum if she wants to," Lucy stops the spoon from entering her mouth.

"It's annoying!"

I frown. "Sorry…"

Lucy sighs and pats my head, smiling a little. "What about I tell you guys a story, so we don't kill each other by the end of the day?"

"A story!" I clap.

"Uh…sure?" Nana shifts. "It is pretty boring on Mondays, even with her here."

"Why?" I blink.

"Because she hates my guts," Lucy shrugs.

"Why? Your guts can't do anything but pass food, crap, and piss."

Lucy's eyes widen and Nana sighs, shaking her head. "Oh jeez. And you said I teach her words…"

Lucy rolls her eyes and pats my head, laughing nervously. "Minori, those aren't nice words."

"But Daddy used them," I shrug.

She stops for a second and sighs herself. "Well, let's get to story time, shall we?" Nana and I nod. "Okay, so there were two people, one named Courage and one named Fear-"

"Is this a kid's story?" Nana interrupts.

"Not extremely, but yet again, it's a Life-interpreter," Lucy shrugs.

"Life what?" I blink.

"Life-interpreter," Lucy repeats. "Or a story with a point in life."

"Isn't that a Fable?" Nana groans.

"Can I tell the fucking story?" Lucy snaps. I nod and motion Nana to be quiet. "Okay, so Fear and Courage lived in two different houses with two different ideas. Then a third person moved in their area named…let's say Di. Di was a she, and Fear and Courage were boys, just to establish. Fear was scared of this new person, so he concealed himself. Courage made friends with Di and so it was good for some time, until Fear came out. Fear thought it would be good to kill Di so everything would return to normal. He tried that day, but Courage defended her and ended up dying himself. Di took revenge and killed Fear, and ended up the only one left."

"Uh, Lucy? Please note the hiding Diclonius behind me," Nana points behind her where I'm shaking, staring at Lucy with wide eyes.

Lucy raises a brow. "Too much?" she asks. I nod. "Ah well. That's life."

"Life's mean!" I squeak, pouting.

"Yes, yes it is," Lucy stands. "Well, I'll just hang around the house if you guys care to join."

I watch her as she leaves through the sliding door. "Well, at least that story's done," Nana stretches. "Nobody really wants to hear about her life."

I blink. "But she said that-"

"Where do you think she got it from?" Nana asks. "Listen Minori, Lucy and I have been in this thing called a 'facility'. You know what that is?" I shake my head. "Of course you don't. Well, the place was a testing place."

"You took tests?" I ask.

She sighs. "Okay, we were tortured." I gap. "They tortured us for information about us, the ones with horns. In the story, replace 'Fear' with 'the torturers' and Courage with 'those who dare get near me'."

I do such. "LUCY-SAN!" I run out. "LUCY-SAN! LUCY-SAN!"

I trip and start crying. Rapid footsteps sound and Lucy comes up. "Ugh, Nana!"

"I didn't do anything!" Nana runs up.

"Aw, shh honey," Lucy helps me up.

I hug her neck. "Lucy! You're not alone!" She stops breathing. "I'm here! I'm not going to leave you Lucy-san!"

I can't hear anyone else breathing. Lucy pats my head. "Thanks Minori," she whispers. "It's nice to hear that."


	5. Adorable

Linkinparkfan9799 Stories

_Elfen Lied-Anime_

_Rated T for Gore and Cursing_

**Minori**

_**Chapter Five**_

_**Adorable: Lucy**_

I groan as I force myself out the door.

I mean _seriously_. It's _4:00 A.M_! **WHO'S AWAKE AT THIS HOUR?**_**!**_ Oh that's right, _me_. Yep, the Diclonius who works with a _fucking idiot, _and I mean that literally! Hoshi is probably just waking up from her 'hooker' shift. I mean _seriously_. Any hour you want to piss me off, don't choose this one, because then you'd die on mark, and my resolution would go up into damn ashes. I kick a lamp post and pain shoots up my leg. "OW!" I jump on one leg, hugging the injured one. "SON OF A BITCH!" See? I'm pissed.

Something tugs on the back of my shirt and I turn my head to Minori, great. "What does bitch mean?" she cocks her head to the side.

"Female dog," I shrug, letting my leg go. "So, any reason you're trailing me?"

"I was bored, so I thought I could go with you to work!" she smiles, hopping on the balls of her feet.

Cute kid, you got to admit that. I sigh and pat her little cap. "Sorry, but-"

"Please?" she tugs on the back of my shirt, pulling out the pouting lip.

Okay, so imagine that you're looking at the most adorable puppy ever and he was begging. Wouldn't you cave? I huff and nod. "Okay, okay, just stop pulling that look!"

"Yay~" she sings (rather irritating at this hour…). As I walk, she skips next to me, hands folded behind her. "I get to go with Lu~cy~ I get to go with Lu~cy~ I get to go with Lu~Lu~cy~ I get to go with-"

"For the love of God, shut up!" I hold my head. "It's 4:00 in the morning!"

"Actually, it's 4:22."

I hang my head in defeat. There is _no_ lying or exaggerating with this kid without feeling guilty, her correcting you, or her jumping to some weird conclusion that scars people for life. I chuckle at what Nana is now afraid of. "Oh yeah, yeah," I pat her head again.

Well, nothing like a little kid to cure my pissed-off mood, huh? After a few short minutes with Minori staring at almost everything (much more curious when she isn't upset…), we spot the ice cream stand with Hoshi stuffing some extra bills into her little jar; suspicions confirmed. She spots us and waves shyly. "H-Hi Lucy…" she stutters. "Who's this little cutie pie?"

"Not a customer," I roll my eyes.

She pouts. "That's not fair," she points. "You know I can't find another stable job."

"What about a coffee shop? That's better than selling yourself."

"Selling yourself?" Minori asks.

I face-palm. Sometimes I forget who's around when I'm scolding Hoshi. "U-Um…" I think. "I-It's-"

"Something you'll learn when you're older," Hoshi giggles.

I scowl. _Why didn't I think of that?_ "Oh, okay!" Minori smiles. "Ooh~ What's inside the cart?"

I note that she's hopping on the balls of her feet, so she's obviously curious/excited (it's a thing). "Ice cream," I state. "You know, the-"

"ICE CREAM!" she squeals (probably making my ears bleed in the process) and rushes to the side of the cart, looking in. "Can I have one? Pretty, pretty _please _Lucy!"

I can feel my eye twitching and I swear some of my hairs are sticking out. I mean talk about out-burst. I sigh and look at Hoshi. She nods. "It's alright with me," she giggles.

"Oh don't giggle, Missy," I point a finger, glaring. "You're a twenty-year-old woman and yet you still sell yourself! I mean honest to God, Hoshi, can't you just ask your brothers for some help?"

She sighs somewhat sadly with a small smile on her face. "I would, but then my mother would disrespect me even more." I blink, my finger frozen in place. "You know how these rich types are, Lucy. They think people have to do every, single, little thing themselves, even as children! So if that's what it takes to earn my mother's respect for once, then maybe I'll try it!"

"Hoshi…" I blink.

She sighs again and helps Minori get an ice cream out of the cart before the little tike falls in (not that Minori would really have a problem with that). "Look Lucy!" Minori waves a cone of ice cream around. "Ice cream!"

I roll my eyes and pat her cap. "Yeah, it's ice cream."

She giggles. "I remember when Mommy and I'd go out for ice cream, but it was never at a cart," she blinks at the cart.

I sigh. People are lucky they can at least _remember _their parents. I grab an apron off the tiny rack on the cart and tie it around my waist. After some minutes with Minori attached to my leg and her eating her ice cream, a _long_ car pulls up. I emphasize _long_ because I believe it's what some people call a 'limousine'? Like I have mentioned before, I obviously do NOT have much of an education if I'm working at an ice cream cart. A lean woman with gray, curly hair and wrinkles all over steps out, a little dog in a tiny purse with its head sticking out and a very gruesome outfit: hot pink leather with white feathers.

I shudder and cover Minori's eyes. "Don't look, your eyes will melt out."

"EEP!" she clings to my leg tighter, dropping her ice cream and covering her eyes. DAMN IT! Stupid me…

The woman walks up (if you consider shuffling in heels walking…) and slides down huge glasses. She looks Hoshi up and down. "…Hoshi."

"…Mother," Hoshi bows with respect.

THIS IS HER MOTHER?**!** Holy shit, that asshole Bando _is_ prettier than this hag! I emphasize _is_ because I didn't kill him, another thing I curse myself for at times. Her mother turns to me and the 'adorable little squirt' clinging to me for dear life. "And who are these two?"

"O-Oh, this is Lucy," she directs to me, "and…"

"Minori," I pry Minori off, carrying her like a baby about to be burped. "You can look now honey, it is safe now."

She looks up and glances at Hoshi's mother before hiding her face in her little hands. "Scary lady!" she whimpers.

"_Excuse me?"_ Hoshi's mother gasps.

"Oh boy…" Hoshi hangs her head in utter defeat.

"You have to admit," I sigh, "she's seven."

"Oh? Seven?" she asks. I nod. Her lips turn up into a smile and she makes a little popping noise with said lips, waving her free hand like 'don't worry about it'. "I have a daughter who's in kindergarten. She's six."

"I know, Hoshi's told me about her," I inform. "She's also told me about the two brothers who are doctors, and the two other sisters who are in high-school and…"

"Middle school," Hoshi finishes.

"Well, I see you have stayed up-to-date with our family," Hoshi's mother smiles. "How so?"

Hoshi lifts up her cell phone. "It's something called 'dial a number'."

Hoshi's mother giggles and ruffles her daughter's hair. Is this really the woman who's neglected her oldest daughter? "Well, I'd love to have you over with your friends here," she directs to Minori and I. "Minori will _have _to meet Hoshiki!"

Hoshi opens her mouth, but her mother walks back to the car and it speeds off. She groans and slams her head on the cart. "What am I going to do?" she moans. "Ugh…sorry you got caught in this…"

I blink at Minori, who's peeking out from between her fingers. "You are an old-woman magnet, I can tell you that," I sigh.

"But I'm not red, nor U-shaped," she sucks her thumb.

"AW~" Hoshi admires the little tike with sparkling eyes. "So cute~"

I raise a brow at the sudden mood change and sigh. "Fuck my life…Anyways, it means that I know you're going to get old-women's attention, kiddo."

"Oh, okay!" she bounces, making me stumble forward a little. I sigh and push my vectors out so they can grab a light-post, letting me balance myself. "Lucy, there are arms coming out of your back," she pokes one.

Hoshi raises a brow and I laugh nervously. "Kids these days," I wave her off.

Minori pouts. Hoshi scratches the back of her neck and sighs. "So…do you think we should…uh…"

"Let's talk to Kota-the-Wise first," I chuckle.

"ICE CREAM!" kids scream.

"…Crap…" we both slump.

After hours of ear-bursting anxiety, Minori drags us to the Inn, knocking on the door with her little knuckles. "Kota! Lucy and Hoshi are dead!"

Okay, so we're fairly white and not breathing, that doesn't mean we're dead…yet anyways. The door slides open quickly to reveal a scared Kota. He glances at us and sighs. "You two are ridiculous…"

Hoshi pouts like a kid and crosses her arms. "You try dealing with kids 8/6."

He rolls his eyes and picks Minori up like a baby about to be burped (again) and looks at me. "So Lucy, anything new?"

"Actually," Hoshi helps me up, "yeah."

We walk inside and go into the kitchen, where Yuka is cooking, Mayu is reading, and Nana is tapping her fork on her plate, looking nervous. Kota sits down and sets Minori next to him. Once I sit down, she bolts up, runs around the table, and tackles my waist. "LUCY~" she sings.

"H-hey!" I stutter. "What the Hell?"

Of course, she's not listening and I'm seeing more non-existent hearts swarming around her head. I sigh and Yuka starts filling the plates, Hoshi sitting down at my other side. "So, Lucy has some news," Kota smiles.

"Oh, you do?" Yuka smiles. "Well, what is it?"

I sigh and gab a thumb in her direction. "Note this…" then I turn it down to Minori. "It's all her fault. I didn't have anything to do with it."

They blink at me like I'm insane. Hoshi sighs and pats my head in between my ribbons. "My mother asked for the three of us to come and visit," she slumps. "She's rich and completely bitchy."

"She's not a female dog," Minori blinks.

Kota glances at her and then crosses his arms at me. I raise my hands up in defense. "You want me to _lie_ to the kid? I'm shocked, honest to God, _shocked_, Kota."

He rolls his eyes. "Okay, okay, I got the point."

I smile in victory and Yuka turns to Hoshi. "Well, it sounds good to me. It's not like she's going to eat you like 'the Veggie Monster'!"

She giggles, but Nana and Minori look down-right horrified. Oops. Both Diclonius start screaming and bolt out of the room. I shake my head as everyone stares at the open slide. "Well, that's what you get for wanting kids to eat their greens…"


	6. Playtime

Linkinparkfan9799 Stories

_Elfen Lied-Anime_

_Rated T for Gore and Cursing_

**Minori**

_**Chapter Six**_

_**Playtime: Minori**_

I groan as Yuka says how cutely I dressed up.

To be honest, it's just a dress. Sure it is fluffy and whatnot, but still! I never really expected Yuka to lose it over something like that. She seems so serious and mean! Well, at least that's what Lucy said. Playtime with 'Hoshiki' is today, May 10, 2012, at 11:30 A.M., but we have to leave at 10:40 A.M. so we make it on time. That being** now**. I wriggle away from Yuka and attach myself to Lucy, sucking my thumb while staring at the floor.

"Got your dictionary?" Kota asks Lucy.

Lucy nods and holds up a bulky bag. "Every book I've been using to make up for the lousy education I got," she states. "Also some 'Shit for Dummies' for Minori."

Kota grabs her bag and checks it. I guess he doesn't want me reading something called 'Shit for Dummies'. Well, whatever 'shit' means. He glares and smacks her arm with the bag, making Lucy laugh and grab it from him. Maybe she was just joking? With that done, Lucy takes my hand and leads me out the slide…slider? Slidy? Slidy-thingy? Ugh, I need more sleep.

"So, are you exited?" Lucy asks with a high-pitched tone.

I'm not sure why, but it sounds like the tone Mommy used when I was littler. Is that what she's doing now? Hmm. A little mean in my opinion, seeing that I'm out of diapers and have been for four years now. At this, I laugh. "It sounds like someone put you on helium!" I admit. I said those same exact words to Mommy once.

Lucy blinks and sighs, coughing a bit. I guess she's trying to clear her throat or something. "How did I know you were going to say that?" she mumbles.

"Because Lucy's smart!" I remind her. Sheesh, she should remember her own smartness by now!

She chuckles and pats my head. "Thanks Minori," she smiles down at me. "Now…"

_**SCRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRCH!**_

"WHOA!" Lucy jumps out of the way while a car nearly hits us. "YO JACKASS, WE'RE WALKING HERE!"

"I CAN SEE THAT!" that other lady from a couple of days ago snaps. "NO NEED TO WAKE UP THE NEIGHBORHOOD!"

I blink. "But shouldn't they already be awake?" I ask.

Lucy shakes her head and walks up next to the door the lady is behind. "Hoshi! Where did this car come from?" she demands.

"It's a loan," 'Hoshi' yawns, patting her mouth. "Get in so we can get to my Mom's."

Without any further complaint, Lucy goes into the back and lets me sit on her knee. I enjoy watching the pretty trees and things fly past the glass. My reflection shows that my smile is happy, eyes sparkling. I don't try to reach for a sparkle this time, because every time I try to grab a sparkle or a heart, they always seem to know and make me go right through them. They're so mean! That is why I plan to not do so for a while until they least expect it, then BLAM! I get a glossy heart!

Well, all of that, and I think grabbing into my eye is not the _best_ idea in the world.

I blink once Lucy sits me on the seat next to her, forcing the belt around me. Staring at her with a confused gaze, she sighs. "With all the bouncing you seem to be doing," she explains, "you might as well shatter my knee-cap right now and save me the trouble."

"Oh, sorry Lucy-san!" I giggle.

She pats the spot in between my horns. "Forgiven," she yawns. "Oh my God, are we almost there yet?_!_" Lucy snaps at Hoshi.

"Grow a little patience," Hoshi sighs. "We'll get there when we get there!"

Why the heck would clocks be invented if people think like that? I'll eat when I eat. I'll sleep when I sleep. I'll kill myself when I kill myself. "Don't be mean to clocks!" I whine. "Clocks tell time, so you can't just say 'I'll eat when I eat' or something like that!"

"I agree with the seven-year-old," Lucy raises her hand.

Even from this seat, I can see Hoshi roll her eyes in that mirror attached to the roof of this car. "Do you find nothing wrong with that statement of yours, Lucy?" she wonders.

"Yeah, there's not enough cussing," Lucy chuckles. I'm the only one to laugh at the joke though.

"Ha. Ha," Hoshi gripes. "You _better_ not act that way when we go inside my mom's house! She may not seem like it much, but she is a 1930's bitch-teacher."

"She taught female dogs?" I gulp. "Oye! You two are confusing!" I tug my cap further down my head and bury my face into Lucy's left upper-arm.

I guess Hoshi looked at her funny, because Lucy scoffs and pats my head at random. "What is it with you and Kota?" Lucy huffs. "Wanting me to lie to such a sweet kid, you two should be ashamed!"

"DO YOU WANT ME TO PULL OVER SO YOU _WALK?_"

Lucy snorts. "Do that, and I walk the other way, buster."

"Do that, I run you over."

"Do that, YOU GET ARRESTED."

Hoshi opens her mouth to say something, but shuts it quickly. "Touché."

Before I can ask, Lucy is quick to answer. "Touché is basically 'you got me'."

I am shocked, so I stare at her in…what's the word? I think Yuka said it was 'awe'. "You can read minds?" I demand.

"Wha-…Oh. No, sorry kiddo, I ain't Superman."

Hoshi turns a little. "Since when is Superman telepathic?"

"One, he's _Super_man for a _reason_. Two, WATCH THE ROAD WHEN YOU'RE DRIVING YOU MORON!"

Hoshi screams and yanks the wheel to the left…or right…to avoid a car. I tug on Lucy's sleeve. "Lucy, did she turn the wheel left or right?"

She raises a brow. "Are you extremely tired or something?" I nod. She sighs and holds out her hands. "Okay, which one makes the 'L'?" I point to the one closest to me. "Good. Now that is the 'left' hand. Now use that to figure out where she turned the wheel."

I think for a second. "…Left?"

"Yep," she taps my nose. I giggle.

The ride is dragging on, so I start to read something called _'Spelling for Dummies'_. I finish that and move to '_Math for Dummies'_. That makes my head hurt, so I switch to '_Reading for Dummies'_. To be honest, the little stories they have in there are cute, so I take my time. Even with that, I'm done before we stop driving. I look up to see Lucy has her 'nose burried' (Reading; it's an 'idi-nom' I think) in a dictionary. It looks awfully big, so I can't understand how she's reading it.

Maybe when I get smart, I'll understand. Then I'll be like Lucy!...Right? I sigh and stare at the glass, looking at me instead of the trees and flowers and things. When I was six and younger, my parents treated me like I was their life. They taught me as much as they could, even if it was only how to spell 'cat'. From diapers to washing my plate after dinner, they taught me more than any 'shool' would (edit: according to _'Spelling for Dummies'_, it's 'school'). Even so, why does Lucy know more than me? Did my parents forget to teach me something?

…Mommy…

…Daddy…

…_**What did I do to make them leave?**_

Whimpering echoes in the car louder than it should be. Something wet goes down my cheek, so I wipe at it. It's water. Why I expected anything different, no idea. "Hey, what's wrong?" Lucy rubs my upper back.

I tilt my head a little in her direction. "Wrong? What do you mean?"

She grunts and flips a lot of the pages at once. The dictionary goes into my lap and her finger taps a certain word. It's darkened, I guess so people notice it.

**Wrong** (rawng, rong) [_Origin_: before 1100; (adj.) Middle English _wrong, wrang, _Old English _wrang,_ perhaps Old Danish _wrang; _ compare Danish _vrang _wrong, OldNorse _rangr _awry; (v. and adv.) Middle English, derivative of theadj.; (noun) Middle English; Old English _wrang, _derivative of theadj.; akin to wring] _**Adj.**_ 1. Not in accordance with what is morally right or good; _a wrong deed._ 2. deviating from truth or fact; erroneous;_ a wrong answer. _ correct in action, judgment, opinion, method, etc., as aperson; in error: _You are wrong to blame him. _4. Not proper or usual; not in accordance with requirements or recommended practice;_ the wrong way to hold a golf club._ 5. Out of order; awry; amiss: _Something is wrong with the machine._ _**N.**_-

"NO!" I slam it shut. "TOO MANY WORDS!" Lucy, I can tell, is a bit scared at my reaction. I place the book in her lap and cross my arms. "That, and I know what it means! What I don't know is what you mean by asking me what's…wrong…" I scroll the dictionary and point to number five.

Her body relaxes a little. "You're crying, so it's customary," she opens up to a new page and points to the word, "to ask."

Huh. So that's where the water came from. "Oh…Nothing's wrong Lucy!" I cheer.

She chuckles and pats my head. "That's good to know."

I feel a slight sadness in me for lying. In so, I ask Lucy to let me read the dictionary with her. Lucy agrees and goes through 'Key to the Abbreviations' ('They're like initials for a name'-Lucy) and 'Key to the Pronunciations', so I can start learning new words. Together, we get through half of the 'Aa' section (all the way to 'amorphous'). Not sure why it's 'Aa', but whAatever the dictionAary sAays.

…

"Lucy?"

"Yeah?"

"Why is it 'Aa'? Doesn't thAat meAan thAat you hAave to sAay them like 'MAay' or 'Aaugust'?"

She lAaughs for some reAason. "The first 'A' is the capital letter, like you use in names and beginnings of sentences when you write. The second is lowercase, like you use whenever it doesn't start a name or a sentence."

Edit: Okay, so it's just 'capital' and 'lowercase'. You don't use them as the same letter. Thanks Lucy!

"Oh, okay!" I beam, handing Lucy the dictionary as we come to a slow stop. I peek out of the window to a **HUGE** house. "Wow! We're here!"

"Okay, okay, Jumpy-Go-Lucky, hold still!" Lucy laughs, trying to get me out of the car with her.

Carrying me like my Daddy did when I was three or something, Hoshi gets out and hands Lucy the bag of books. We walk up to the steps as I try to get a book from the yellow bag. By the top step and the time it takes Hoshi to 'man up and ring the fucking doorbell', whatever 'fucking' means, I have 'Math for Dummies' again. Well, what better time to get a hurting head, right? The scary lady answers and I 'burry my nose' (hehe~) into the book as fast as possible. "OOH~~~" she _shrieks._ "You're here! I never thought you would arrive! Why so late?"

"What do you mean?" Hoshi yawns. The scary lady shows them a clock on her wrist. **5:13 P.M.** Lucy seems a bit angry, so Hoshi steps in quickly. "Well, at least we got here!" Hoshi cheers.

Lucy grumbles something and steps in, shutting the door with a kick. She sets me on the ground and takes one of my hands, making me nearly drop the book. "Yay! Minori's here!" a girl runs up and tackles me.

"OOMPH!"

"Hi! I'm Hoshiki! I like bunnies and flowers and dolls and toys and having friends!" That's a lot of 'and's. "I'm six and I'm kinda shy, but this can work out!"

I think my ears are bleeding. "U-Um…hi?"

"OH!" she shrieks, making me cringe. "You're shy to! YAY! We can be shy together!"

"Aren't they just _adorable_ as friends?" the scary lady 'whispers'.

This family must be filled with loud-mouths. "…Yeeaaaaaaaah…" Hoshi and Lucy hold up their thumbs. The tone says that they don't agree.

"OOH! OOH!" Hoshiki jumps. "I wanna show you my room!" She grabs my arm and grips it tightly. "COME ON!"

"O-Ow…" I cringe again. This is going to be painful, isn't it?

So I'm dragged and forced to run all the way to her room, on the _OTHER SIDE_ of this **HUGE** place. She pushes open tall doors and shows me…well…how do I put this nicely?

_A PINK DISASTER._

Pink bunnies, pink flowers, pink blankets, pink walls, pink bed, anything pink other than us Diclonius you WILL find in this room! Jeez! Now I know what Daddy and Mommy meant when they said 'too much of a good thing'! Granted, it's pretty, but imagine seeing your role model all day, every day…Okay, that's actually a nice thing. Um…Oh! Imagine getting to eat your favorite ice cream for every day, every time you eat. Seems good for a little while right? Well you get tired of it. Sort of like that now, but all in one go.

She runs over to some mini-house and takes out these weird things. I think they're dolls, but they have plastic human bodies with plastic bunny heads. "Wanna play 'Bunny House'?" she jumps.

I try to get the big picture before shaking my head. "N-No thanks…"

She frowns. "Oh…Well!" She chucks them behind her, making the heads pop off when they hit the floor. Her smile returns and her arms fold behind her back. "Wanna play 'Hide and Seek'?" I shake my head again. She frowns again. "Well…Tag?"

"No," I shake my head. I glance at the window and see a shadow with a strand of pink hair. "Hey! Look!" I point to the window in excitement.

She turns and looks through it, but she seems confused. "Huh?"

"There's a girl!"

"…I don't _see _a girl."

I clap. "Then we can look for her then!"

"Okay!"

We run out, nearly running into Lucy. "Ah!" she jumps. "Don't run you two!"

"Sorry!" we giggle.

We keep running, Lucy laughing a little behind us. The door opens when we reach it and we race into the grass and trees. I yank her to a stop and stand still myself. Glancing around, I see nobody. "So, where is she?" Hoshiki asks.

I shrug. "She should be somewhere where the window can be seen…"

With that, we walk outside of the trees until we can see her window. Then we go into the trees and check behind the trunks. "Hello!" Hoshiki screams.

"Hello?" I whisper. Who knows? Maybe this girl is shy to? For a bit, all I can see is grass and trees. There's green gunk on the trees that leaves stains on my fingertips. The flowers are white with yellow centers. Their petals are soft when I bend down to feel them, green smudges left on the white. Drops of water drip from the pieces of grass. Can grass cry? "Hey, what's wrong grass?" I ask it.

"_**Kill…"**_

I blink and turn, seeing a dark shadow of a girl. One red-pink eye is shown and I can see the shape of a horn on her head. "Oh hello!" I smile. "Who are you? I'm Minori!" She says nothing, but her eye glares at me. I frown and gulp. Why does she look so angry? "H-Hello? Are you okay?" Nothing. I puff out my cheeks and stomp up to her. "Come on and speak to me!"

She says nothing. All she does is turn away and starts to walk in the direction of the house. I chase after her, a bit angry. She's being rude to not answer me! As I get closer and closer to the house again, she seems to get farther and farther away. The longer I don't get to her, the more angry I become. At a point, she disappears all together and leaves me standing at the top step of the stairs. I huff and open the door, frowning.

"Meanie…" I mutter.

"Who's the meanie?" Hoshi comes up.

I point to the door. "That girl!" I yell.

"Hoshiki?" she tilts her head.

"No! That girl that was in the trees! Hoshiki and I went to find her, and when I did she just walked off!"

"Oh? What did she look like?"

I think about how to put it. "Well, I saw a strand of pink-hair, and her eye looked red-pink. Anything else was black because of shadows." I don't mention the horns because then she'll think that I'm talking about myself.

She nods and pats my head. "Well, don't worry about it." Her eyes dart around me, then go to my face. "And…where's Hoshiki?"

My mind runs blank as I nervously smile. "H-Huh?"

"Where's Hoshiki? You know, my little sister?"

…" …Shit…"

"Oh my God!" she runs out. "HOSHIKI! HOSHIKI WHERE ARE YOU?"

I suck my thumb and sigh. Guess I should have went to Hoshiki and told her that I found the girl…sort of. The scary lady and Lucy walk up to the door when they hear Hoshi screaming. "What's going on?" the scary lady smiles at me.

I shrink. That smile is just…ugh! I run behind Lucy and hold onto her leg. Whimpering, I sit on the floor behind her leg. "Hey," Lucy pats my cap. "Where did Hoshiki go?" I point outside the door. "…You mean she ran off?"

"No! I saw a girl out there and we went to go find her. I saw her and tried talking to her, but then she walked off towards here! When I got here, she wasn't here and I completely forgot about Hoshiki…"

"Oh dear…you left my little girl in the woods?" the scary lady stresses.

Huh. Scary ladies also make no sense. I have to make note of that. "What's a 'woods'?"

"We'll look it up later," Lucy picks me up.

"Wah!" I cringe at Hoshiki's cries. "The girl left me!"

"S-Sorry!" I call. "I-I saw the girl and-"

Hoshiki runs in and stops in front of Lucy, glaring with watery eyes at me. "Meanie!" she sticks out her tongue.

"Hey," Lucy warns. "She didn't mean to."

"How am I to know that?" Scary Lady picks up Hoshiki. "Get that girl in order!"

"She is in order you old crone!" Lucy snaps. "Don't you _dare _insult Minori just because she tried to find some mysterious girl!"

Scary Lady scoffs. "I _never!_" Never what? "And here I thought Hoshi was getting better, picking friends that were actually good! But no, she's just the same screwed up little brat I had when she was younger!"

"_BRAT?__**!"**_ We turn to see Hoshi at the door. "Oh _I'm _the brat, even though you're holding the dear little princess!"

"Yay!" Hoshiki claps. "I'm a princess!"

I know being a princess sounds nice, but with the way Hoshi says it, I don't think she means well. "At least Hoshiki is not working as a whore!" Scary Lady snaps.

Lucy growls, but I say something first. "What's a whore?"

They stare at me. Did I say something? "A whore is what Hoshi here is," Scary Lady smiles.

The smile, however, makes me drag my cap down my head again. "A nice lady?" I ask. "A person who gives ice cream? At least Lucy actually answers. Like she told me 'bitch' is a female dog when I asked."

She rolls her eyes. "Figures. You know, this might not have happened if you weren't left in such bad care!"

"SHE'S FINE WITH US!" Lucy screams. I whimper, seeing it hurt my ears. "Oh, sorry Minori…Anyways, you stick to your ways and we'll stick to ours!"

I don't think Hoshiki and I are actually going to have a playtime. "Do that, and I might have to call CPS on you for Child Abuse!"

CP…What? "That's just bologna!" Hoshi snaps. "Telling a kid something is not child abuse!"

"Really? Then how did she know that word!"

"Lucy said it," I blink.

The woman points at me. "See? You should not cuss in front of an infant!"

"I'm not an 'infant'!" I whine. "I'm a girl!"

Lucy sighs and starts walking for the door. "Come on Hoshi, get the car," she tells her.

"Hey! What's your name?" Hoshiki calls to me.

I don't answer. "Oh don't honey, you don't have to hang around filth like that," the scary lady coons.

Funny, and on the eighth she was calling me the cutest thing she ever laid eyes on. _**"It's just how they are…apes…they treat us like shit…You need to kill before they kill you…"**_

I look around. "Hello?"

"Hmm?" Lucy glances down at me. "Hello what?"

"Didn't you hear that?" I ask. She shakes her head. Strange.


	7. Same

Linkinparkfan9799 Stories

_Elfen Lied-Anime_

_Rated T for Gore and Cursing_

**Minori**

_**Chapter Seven**_

_**Same: Lucy**_

Kota stares as I nearly break my plate with the chopsticks the next morning. "Um…I take it that the play-date did not go well?" he asks nervously.

"NO SHIT," I snap.

Yuka sighs, "Lucy…"

Minori, however, looks confused, and I can guess it's not about the incident. "What does shit mean?"

Mayu laughs nervously and just tells her it's a bad word and that she should not worry about it. Nana looks grim and sighs, poking the breakfast on her plate with chopsticks. "I can't believe that she actually said that…"

"Well, she wasn't racist," I mutter, shoveling some food into my mouth. "She b'as 'ust a m'ith c'."

All Kota does in response to the mouth full of Tamagoyaki is roll his eyes. He's probably a little happy that it censored the 'bitch' in that statement by a fair bit. "How do you know?" Nana wonders.

I point to Minori, who tilts her head again. "She didn't talk about her horns, so," I shrug. "If she did, that's a different story."

"I didn't, don't worry Lucy-chan!" Minori giggles. Sweet kid, you have to admit.

Wonta barks and snuggles into Mayu's lap. Meanwhile, said human is thinking for some reason. "Hey, Yuka?" she addresses.

"Hmm?" Yuka faces her.

Mayu looks uncomfortable. "Why would someone say something as awful as that because of a little incident?"

The addressed thinks about it for a few moments. She finally answers with, "She's probably protective."

Man does that make my blood boil. I slam my chopsticks down with a glare. "SHE WAS NOT PROTECTIVE!" I shout. "SHE'S JUST A PAMPERED PRISS!"

"Calm down, Lucy!" Kota scolds.

_**KRISSSSSS!**_

My eyelids flutter in rapid blinks. Shifting, I can finally see the broken window with long, slightly transparent hands through the square. "…I'll fix that…" I huff, standing up and walking to the slide. Pushing it aside, I step through. I'm about to push it back when Minori rushes through and nearly gets squished because. "You want to help, Minori?" I ask, eyebrows quirked. She nods rapidly, smiling. "Well, I guess it can't be helped."

We go to a closet and I look for the spare glass we usually keep for incidents with Nana. I grab the glass cutter and etch lines to match the measurements of the window. Minori grabs the transparent square and follows me outside. Once there, I start picking the remaining pieces sticking to the edge. "Shouldn't you use gloves for that?" Kota wonders.

A slight cut appears as I try to pry a piece out. "Nah," I shake my head. "Worst I can get are small cuts on the fingers. No big whoop."

Kota must have sent Minori some mental message, because she waddles off , the square on the ground, and returns with gloves stretched up to me. "Gloves?" she asks me.

I stare at the gloves for a bit. With a sigh, I accept them and slip them on to continue glass picking. The phone rings and Nana rushes to answer it, much to Mayu's protests. She comes back as I slide the glass into position. With the closing, the conversation is muffled. "Let's go back inside," I pat Minori's back. Her head goes up and down enthusiastically as she grabs my hand and starts hauling me in. Well, not really, but I am not about to resist against her. The slide opens again. "So who was it?"

"Hoshi," Nana answers grimly. "She said that you can have today off because she wants to get things clean with her mother." One nod shows my understanding.

Minori squeals, making me scramble to the side. "What the-"-I start.

"Lucy! That means we can play today!" she claps, tackling my legs shortly after stopping.

Oh right, she's only seven. I pick her up and sit at the table, her next to me once I set her down. "Yeah, I guess," I shrug. "Eat your Tamagoyaki."

She obeys and we eat in silence. It gives me time to worry about how Hoshi is going to talk to her mother about this thing. Also, it gives me time to seethe in silent rage about the treatment Minori got. Honestly, she is a sweet kid and was curious about something she saw. Of _course_ she is going to check! Besides, Hoshiki probably went on her own free will! The crunching of wood comes to my attention and I look down to broken chopsticks in bleeding hands. Everyone stares as blood drips into my Tamagoyaki.

"…Oops."

"You're just breaking everything today," Kota sighs. My eyes roll at that.

Kota, Yuka, and Mayu leave once again. We Diclonius are left alone once more, which irks me a little as to why we have a second day alone. Are all of the Diclonius home slackers or something? Nah, can't be it seeing as I have a job. We are at the table when Minori starts yanking on my hair. Hard. "Let's play Lucy-chan!" she cheers.

"OW!" I wince. "Okay, OKAY! Stop yanking on my hair!" She giggles as I grab her little wrists and ease my pink strands out of her grasp.

Nana blinks a little bit before shaking off a daze and yawning. "Well, I'm gonna-"

"Wanna play with us, Nana-chan?" Minori asks.

"Not really-"

I am quick to cover the brat's mouth and restrain her of fighting. My smile is directed at Minori. "-Going to play in here! Way too small, don't you agree?"

The youth glances around and nods. "Yeah, I guess. Hey! We can play outside! That's a big-big place!"

Grr, too darn cute! Seriously, she's like a tiny puppy or something! Well, without the size and fur and snout and whatnot. Whatever else belongs in a dog alone, I guess. My head nods as substitute to shaking it. I don't want to make Minori think I don't think that's a good idea when I'm just trying to get the thoughts out. Have to be the adult here, can't be distracted with a child's…erm…aura? Ugh, what the fuck do I know? She cheers with that and runs out, snatching our hands along the way and tugging us to the yard.

It's a pretty peaceful area. Grass is green. Walk is gray. Trees and things are green and tan. Also, it has a pretty vast space, so at least we'll be able to play at least tag. Hide and seek, however, is pretty pointless in this area alone. "Okay!" Minori claps her hands together. "What do you two want to play?"

"Nothing," Nana murmurs. The glare I send her makes her irritable. "What? I'm not a baby!"

Minori's head tilts again. "I'm not a baby, I'm a girl." Didn't she say something like that to Hoshi's mother to?

Nana's eyes roll. "Whatever! I'm going in-"

"-No you're not," I grab the back of her shirt, rendering her still.

"Hey!" Nana struggles. "I don't want to play!"

I grumble and drag her over to a tree. My vectors carry her up to onto the branches and try to tangle her there. "Do you want to throw rocks at Nana?" I ask Minori. "It's fun~" My sense kick back in when Minori tries to help Nana. Right…

The youth giggles and struggles climbing up. Eventually she is sitting on the branch next to Nana with branches holding her wrists and ankles. "Don't be mean, Lucy-chan!" she laughs, tugging at the branches. "Nana is the same as us, so at least be polite, right?"

Seeing as I can't argue, I nod in agreement. Logic apparently has not found her yet, seeing as humans are rude to each other all the time. "Okay, so what do we play?" I ask. "It's up to you, squirt."

She thinks about it before facing Nana. "How does 'I Spy' sound?"

"I spy?" Nana wonders.

Oh my God, she hasn't even heard of _I Spy?_! Deep breath, Lucy, deep breath…A long, drawn out line of oxygen floods into my lungs as I do just that. "Yeah," Minori blinks. "For example…I spy, with my little eyes…something pink!"

Nana blinks and looks around. "…Lucy?"

"Yep!" Minori cheers. "You give a hint to what you see and the person guesses it! You try, Nana-chan!"

She nods and looks around. "I spy…something-"

"You forgot 'with my little eyes'," Minori informs.

"You have to say that?" Minori nods and Nana sighs. "Okay…I spy_ with my little eyes_ something green."

As I climb the tree to join them, Minori thinks about it. "Hmm…The grass?" Nana nods. "Yay!" Minori claps her hands, bouncing a little. "Lucy-chan!"

Clinging to the bark, I stare at a splinter in the wood. "I spy with my little eyes something that will poke my eye out very shortly."

Nana starts, "That's not a-"

"The bark?" Minori wonders.

"Close," I gulp, trying to back my head away from it.

Nana can see it well, and it surprises me she does not use those vectors of hers to push my eye into it. "Are you really backing away from a splinter, Lucy?"

My head turns to her as I glare. "Hey, my eye isn't _steel _you know!" my voice hisses out.

Minori grabs my hand and tries pulling me up. It gives me a tiny boost, but not enough to finish the job. Nana, being a jerk, tickles Minori from behind, making her drop my hand and as my right leg was dependent on her, I crash onto the grass. "Haha!" Nana laughs. As she hugs her ribs, she falls off the branch. Minori clings to the bark while looking at the ground with wide eyes. "OW!"

"That's what you get." Fingertips push against the soil to force my body onto its feet. The very same fingers dust off the grass and dirt that got onto the sweats I decided to wear this morning.

"Shut up!" Nana yells.

We argue for the next few minutes until someone starts crying. The sudden wailing makes us shut up immediately and hit the ground, reasons unknown. Nana and I exchange unbelieving glances before checking the tree. On the branch is Minori still, clinging to the bark and crying her eyes out. "S-Scary!" she whines.

Oh. "Aw, don't cry!" I rush under the branch. I hold my arms up. "Here little tyke, jump down." She shakes her head rapidly. "Don't worry Minori, I'm not gonna let you fall and hurt yourself."

That statement just makes her cry louder. She whimpers and rolls up into a ball, her face hidden. "Nice job, Lucy," Nana spits sarcastically.

"Instead of criticizing me, why don't you help!" I snap. It renders her speechless and she walks in front of me, arms held up. "Come on. We're both here and we're not going to let you fall, okay Minori?" The Diclonius shakes her head again. With a bit of thought, I remember something from months ago that might work now. "You can have cookies if you hop down."

Yep. She smiles right there and hops down, crashing into me and making me slam into the ground. Thank God my head was spared the collision. "Cookies!" she claps. Minori hugs my neck, giggling. "Thank you, Lucy-chan!"

"Okay, okay; get off before you suffocate me," I shove her off.

Her laugh is high and soft. Excited for cookies, she forgets the idea of 'I Spy' and runs back into the inn. Nana gives me a look of confusion when I start getting back onto my feet. "What made you think of that idea?" she wonders. "And we have cookies?**!**"

Two fingers are held up as I nod. My middle finger then is left alone to represent 'one'. "Remember when Nyuu and you were all excited over the bird cookies?" I remind.

She thinks about it, then blinks. "But that was_ months_ ago, and in your split personality no less-!"

"Still remembered it, didn't I?" I snort. Following Minori's example, I walk inside so she doesn't destroy the kitchen looking for the box of cookies Yuka bought while we were sleeping for after dinner today.

"Lucy…" Nana sighs. I guess she's smiling, by the slight happiness in her tone. _Don't think it was because of you alone,_ I think. _It's because it was necessary in the situation. I needed to know the other things that make us Diclonii the same. _


	8. Different

**Well, we had some questions for the last chappie! But may I say some stuff ended the way it did for reasons ^^ So please be patient with me, for I am not Rick Riordon here.**

**Enjoy!**

Linkinparkfan9799 Stories

_Elfen Lied-Anime_

_Rated T for Gore and Cursing_

**Minori**

_**Chapter Eight**_

_**Different: Minori**_

Mayu stares at me from the door.

"You want to come to school with me?" she asks. I nod rapidly. "What brought this on?"

The words jumble in my head, but it's easy enough to get them together again. Like Mary and her sheep, right? "Lucy was telling me about school yesterday, on the fifteenth, and I thought that maybe I could see it with you!" Sorry about the squeeze in of the date, but Yuka said remembering the day and the month and the year is always a good thing. Sadly Nana now calls me 'Portable Calendar'. By the way she says it, she is being mean! "So, can I?"

Mayu is thinking, looking a bit guilty. "I don't know…" she trails off.

"Please!" I hop up and down, begging. "I'll behave, I promise!" With a sigh, she nods. "Yay~!"

I run out, spreading my wings out so I am like a flying bird. She chases after me, screaming at me to stop getting ahead and stay with her. To be honest, why can she not just run faster to catch up? Seeing that she is not going to do that any time soon, I slow down and wait for her to be by my side. Mayu walks slow, holding a bag with one hand and my right hand in the other. With her slowness, I get time to think.

My first thought is the number fifteen. I have been with Lucy and the rest for twelve days, and I have not even shown any appreciation yet! Also, what will I look like when I reach that age? Will I look like Lucy? After a bit of thought, I shrug. If I do, I will be really happy because Lucy is very pretty! Even prettier than Mommy and she was pretty to. Mommy had this black hair that was all curly and soft, no matter how many times I played with it. She also had these big and warm blue eyes that made me feel so safe at times when I got scared in the middle of the night…Sometimes she would sing me little songs to calm me down.

That makes me wonder how Mommy is doing. I wonder where she went. Where would she go without me? _Why_ would she go somewhere without me? Did I do something wrong? What about Daddy? Could he have went somewhere without Mommy? Did he actually go with her? All of this makes my head hurt, but I want to know though! What happened on my birthday? Why did they leave?

"_**Because they're apes…"**_

I stop in my tracks and turn. A shadow is behind a tree, one horn showing. Oh, it is that girl again! Someone tugs on my hand, making me stumble backwards a little. "Come on, Minori!" Mayu sighs. "Don't day-dream so I'm not late to school!"

Seeing as the shadow is just standing there, I turn and follow Mayu. "Mayu, does that mean I can't day-dream from now on?" I whimper. I really like dreaming because I always see fluffy bunnies and tiny clouds with faces.

She shakes her head though. The sigh of relief I release makes her giggle, I guess, seeing as nothing else is really happening. "Just not while we're walking to school," Mayu assures. "There's a lot more exceptions, but Lucy can tell you those later."

"Wow," I blink. "Lucy is smart!"

The look on her face says that she does not really agree. Even so, she nods her head twice. "Yeah, she is," Mayu smiles kindly. Why is she saying something she obviously does not mean? Does she think that Lucy is dumb? "What's with that expression?" she asks me.

By feeling my cheeks, I can tell they are puffed out like I am pouty. "Do you think Lucy is dumb?" I wonder. All she does is blink! "Aw, why won't you answer?"

Mayu sighs and pats my cap. Her face looks really nice and kind, so I think she did not mean it! I smile once her mouth opens. "It's just that Lucy never really had a proper education," she explains. "Sure she can read books all she wants, but that's not the same as having an actual teacher to define it all."

I nod in slight understanding. Without an explainer, you cannot have something explained, now can you? A small building comes up eventually. Other kids are playing in the front, all in uniforms similar to Mayu's. Mayu leads me through some gates and enters the building, a fat lady with a mustache running her over. "Miss Mayu!" she shrieks, making me cringe. "What on Earth-Who is this adorable pumpkin?**!**"

How does Lucy put it again? AH SHIT. Shrinking, I wave once. "H-Hello…" I whisper.

I suffocate as she bear-hugs me. Seriously, my eyes feel like they are popping out of my head! "SO CUTE~"

"MAYU!" I cry. Meanie lady makes my ribs hurt, okay?

"P-Please let Minori-san go!" Mayu tries to help me. Honestly the lady is just too fat. So, after much deprivation of air, I am freed by the ringing of a bell. "Let's hurry!" she grabs me as the lady is distracted.

We run into a room with little tables with chairs attached to them by metal. She sits me down on the ground next to one and sits in the chair that comes with it. Other kids start to come in, most of them staring at me with amazement. All I do is wave before hiding under Mayu's table. Now a living stick comes into the room, hair all gray and sticking out like spikes. Her face is just made of wrinkles and pink-stuff.

Taking in a deep breath, she squints her eyes at us. "Good _morning_, class," she scoffs.

"Good morning," everyone answers in unison. Their voices sound dead and lifeless, so I shrink into a little ball. If there is anything I hate more than liars, it would be the dead.

The lesson is boring, that is really all I can say. My eyelids fall and so do I as I sleep. In my dream, there are little honey-bunnies and smiling clouds that are made of squishy thingies called 'marshmellows'. Maybe I should ask Lucy if we could get some…A bunny comes up and nibbles at my ankle, making me blink at it. Is it hungry? I pull some grass out of the ground and offer it to him, but he does not stop. Does he not like grass?

A hole tears through my world and opens up to reveal Mayu. "Oh, you're awake," she gasps in relief. "You slept through school, silly!"

"What do you mean?" I ask. From what I have heard, school is _maybe_ seven hours long. I would not have slept that long with an itsy-bitsy dream such as a few bunny-frolics. "At the very least, I only slept an hour!"

Mayu shakes her head. She laughs when I pout. "Don't worry, sleeping is a good thing! Just don't do too much or too little, or you won't grow properly."

That confuses me. "I won't…grow?"

"When you sleep well, you can grow," she informs. Someone snickers and we turn to some group of boys. "Oh here we go…Come on Minori, today is Udon!"

Even so, the boys are blocking the door. I walk up to them and hold my hands behind my back. "Excuse me, but could you let us through?" I sway. "Please?"

The boy at the front laughs and leans in front of me, smiling like a fox. Trust me, I have seen foxes before, and it is _not_ friendly. "And if we don't?"

"Well, you have to sometime," I blink. "It's not like you live here."

Mayu grabs my hand and tugs me behind her. With a glare, she faces the boys. "Don't you _dare_ start picking on Minori, you jerks!"

Another boy laughs. "What're you gonna do about it?" he challenges. "You gonna tattle tale~?"

By their tones, they are obviously being mean. Mean people are like the dead: they do not have hearts. In so, I step in front of Mayu, her hand still in mine. "LEAVE HER ALONE!" I scream. Sorry for copying you Lucy, but what you said to the newspaper yesterday actually works in this situation! "JUST GO AND EAT HORSE SHIT!"

"MINORI!" Mayu covers my mouth.

"_WHAT WAS THAT?__**!" **_the boy at the front raises a fist. Only one thought runs through my head. _Why is Mayu different, but nice, yet not this boy? Is it because Mayu knows and he doesn't?_ A large hand grabs his fist. "Wha-"

This hand lowers to the wrist and bends it out of its regular position. His screams fill the classroom. **"Don't fuck with Mayu and Minori,"** a familiar voice growls. I look up to Lucy, who looks down at me. "Also, do _not_ repeat that."

I blink and tilt my head to the side, my cap slipping off. "What?" The boys scream and run. "Aw…" I poke my horns from disappointment.

Lucy grabs the hat and slips it over my head again. "Don't repeat 'horse shit'. That's only what you say to newspapers that throw your job away!"

"What?**!**" Mayu gasps. "Lucy, that's horrible!"

"I know, which is why I called it horse shit," Lucy shrugs like it is nothing. "So that is why I am here to pick you guys up."

I blink even more. Maybe the loss of her job makes her confusing? "But isn't Mayu a little heavy to carry?" I tug on Lucy's dress.

Mayu slumps, hanging her head. "Hey…"

Lucy only laughs and picks me up, patting my head. "A little."

"Lucy-san!" Mayu whines. She runs after us as Lucy walks away, laughing. Even though she is smiling, I can only wonder. With all the questions circling me, why must I gain another? This one, however, deals with my race. _How big is the gap between differences?_

**Yeah, the boys popped out of nowhere, but there is an explanation next chappie!**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**


	9. Beach

Linkinparkfan9799 Stories

_Elfen Lied-Anime_

_Rated T for Gore and Cursing_

**Minori**

**Chapter Nine**

_**Beach: Lucy**_

I cling stubbornly to the front slide.

"NO! NO! NO! NOT IN A MILLION YEARS! _NO!_" I roar, my nails digging into the wood. Just so it's clear, I am _not_ being forcefully dragged to go a date or anything. Pheh, I mean _please_.

The problem here is Kota's lousy idea of relaxation. "What is wrong with the beach?" he sighs in exasperation. Tired, he lets me go and allows me to run inside and lock everyone out. "LUCY!" His constant banging on the slide does not make me open it. "WHAT THE HECK?**!**"

Small tapping is slightly drowned out by his pounding. "Lucy-san!" Minori squeaks. "Do you wanna stay-"-I quickly open the slide, grab her, and shut it again. "…Umm…"

"Didn't you know?" I ask in fake surprise. "The Veggie Monster is rumored to be at the beach!" I have an inkling that even the Americans are cringing at her shriek of absolute terror. Man, I really need a guide book for these things…

"LUCY! STOP TERRIFYING MINORI!" Yuka scolds.

My response is a simple kick to the slide. "I AM TRYING WOMAN!" I shout. Minori starts covering her ears and crying. "Aw, no crying Minori…See? Bouncy!"

Surprisingly a simple hop or ten of my feet makes her giggle and clap. Was I like this as a kid? Ugh, I need a guide book for a lot of things now that I think about it. One of them being 'How to Remember Childhood Memories: Peaceful Edition'. I have already read and memorized the 'Horror Edition', A.K.A-My life. Truthfully, that is a **very** good word for it. "But what about the Veggie Monster?" Minori breaks my line of thought.

"Huh?"

"Veggie Monster," she repeats. "He's scary and mean and rapes kids!"

Seriously, was I? Of course, whether or not I was like this as a kid is not my top priority. "Who taught you that word?" I huff, pinching the bridge of my nose.

She blinks in confusion. "Mean?" she squeaks. I shake my head without words. "…Rape?" My nod lets her continue. "Oh, Nana taught it to me!"

This is where I kick the side of the slide so it opens. Nana is there, shrinking at my glare. **"NANA!"** I roar. "HOW COULD YOU TEACH THIS INNOCENT LITTLE GIRL THE WORD _'RAPE'_?_!_?" Is it bad to say I am actually enjoying this drama? Hehehe…

Kota sighs and faces Nana, who is currently hiding behind Mayu. "Really?" He sounds exasperated in a way.

"It slipped out," Nana shrugs innocently.

Yuka is about to say something with that merciful face of hers before I hold Minori in front of her face. Minori points back to me, so Yuka stops and removes her attention from Nana. "I swear Yuka, if you give Nana mercy for the 'it slipped out' excuse, I will write **SO** many swear words in _blood_ on the walls of your room!" I threaten.

A hand grips my shoulder, so I turn to Kota. This makes me set Minori onto her feet. "Behave," Kota sternly commands. "Just because you don't like something doesn't mean you should threaten someone because of that."

"Oh, so if someone is trying to kill me, I can't threaten them to back off?" I challenge. He stays silent. "That's what I thought."

Nana is blinking. It is sort of unsettling until she blurts out the _stupidest_ and most _embarrassing_ thing **ever.** "Are you on your period or something?"

Minori only stands there blinking as chaos reigns over with me beating Nana up, Yuka and Kota trying to pry me off, and Mayu screaming at us to stop it. Are they seriously trying to stop me after hearing what Nana said? Even as Kota drags me off, I am kicking and punching. "Lemme' at her!" I shriek. "LEMME AT THAT LITTLE MOTHER FU-"

"**CUT THE CRAP **_**NOW**_**."** Now this particular tone of his makes me flinch and slowly face him. Man does he look pissed! Eventually he calms down and softens his expression a smidge. "Now, Nana, apologize to Lucy."

"What did I do?**!**" she whines.

A tiny finger taps her head. She looks up to Minori, for her butt is at least a yard into the ground. "I think something about a period," Minori says. This is when she turns to me. "Speaking of which, what is a period, Lucy?"

I shake my head. "Not now," I sigh. "Too complicated to explain." She continues to stare despite that. With a sigh, I cross my arms over Kota's, which are around my stomach. "Anyways, why do I have to go to the _beach_?"

You are probably asking 'so…you put up all this fuss over a beach…'. Am I right? Raise your hand if you a-What the fuck am I doing?**!**-UGH! Point is, I have my reasons, all of which going somewhere along the lines of that blind bastard that is so hung-up on lodging a bullet into my skull. There is also the fact that we are bringing Minori, who of which I do not him to learn about and just get _another_ target. Then there is Kota and Mayu, who could also get into harm's way. Besides, I consider myself an indoors person for the most part. For that, blame the facility. Yeah, that seems about it.

Yuka sighs and crosses her arms. "What's so wrong about the beach?" she wonders.

…She has _got _to be joking. Does she not remember anything that has happened to me at that beach, near that beach, or above that beach? Well, the 'above' part is kind of just for the sake of having three, but ah well. Kota apparently understands this and opens his mouth to defend my case. "Maybe she doesn't like sand much?" he suggests.

…YOU HAVE _GOT_ TO BE KIDDING ME. Minori, however, is apparently smarter than the both of them combined and shakes her head. "Lucy-san looks angry," she points out. "So does that mean that you're wrong?"

Nana also is smarter than those two. "It's that man. What was his name…?"

"Bando-san?" Mayu wonders. She goes off to feed him sometimes, so it would not surprise me that she knows his name by now. "Lucy-san, you don't really need to be afraid-"

My laugh cuts her sentence short. "Please!" I scoff. "I wouldn't be afraid of that horse shit even if he had my pan-Okay, okay, 'G Rated' Kota, no need to turn tomato on me!"

Minori, probably thinking we are just a bunch of lunatics, shrugs and grabs my hand, yanking me from Kota. "But Lucy," she whines. "The Veggie Monster!"

Got to think of a good lie…What's a good lie? Hmm…Ah-ha! I pluck her up off the ground and smile at her, trying to keep it nice and sweet unlike the forced smile I often have to put on. "Well, now that I think about it, the Veggie Monster might not be out at this time. He is probably in the underground, sleeping. Tell you what. We can try digging in the sand to find the Veggie Monster?"

"Yay!" she cheers, clapping. "I wants to go monster hunting! I wants to go monster hunting!"

"Only if you say it correctly," I tease.

She seems confused at this statement. "…Minori wants to go monster hunting?"

I blink for a few seconds before shrugging. "Meh, close enough. Now let's go to the beach!"

"I thought you didn't want to go!" Yuka groans.

I face her with an amused smile. "Kota was going to force me anyhow. Might as well go with a shotgun though!" Setting Minori down, I run inside.

Kota shakes his head in disappointment as multiple crashes echo around the premises. I would blame Nana, but it's pretty clear that it is me looking for the shotgun. "We don't _have _a shotgun!" he calls. When I run out with said firearm, his jaw drops to the ground. His recovery takes a few minutes as he nervously tugs his collar and chokes out, "…Or not…"

Honestly, what house would be complete without a shotgun? NOT THIS ONE! Minori examines the gun and tries to poke it, but a shake of my head keeps her from doing so. If she does not know that 'a' is a single letter and not 'Aa' like in the dictionary, it is highly unlikely she knows the gun safety rules.

Yuka and Kota eventually wear down my ears to nothing but bleeding chunks of meat about how I should put it away. In response, I bury it underground as the slap of Kota's forehead rings. We all leave after that, Nana clinging to Mayu and Mayu patting Minori's head. Minori is walking, staring up at Mayu with wide eyes. "Mayu, are you okay?" she asks.

Mayu nods once. "Why do you ask?"

She jumps a bit when I pat her head. "Probably still wondering about yesterday," I say. "I'm curious though, but what exactly was the deal with those boys?"

Frowning, Mayu shrinks at this. "W-Well…" She shifts a little. "They're just bullies. I don't know why, but they think they're better than everyone…It sort of scares me sometimes, so I try to avoid them, but…"

Minori puffs out her cheeks and yanks on Mayu's arm. Mayu stops to see Minori with one hand on her hip and the other pointed right in her face. "You're better!" Minori whines. "You're better than meanie boys!" Both of us blink at her, which makes her sigh and curl up into a ball. "Now _that's_ mean…" she complains.

This makes me laugh and pick her up, nudging the top of her head with my nose. "You can't go monster hunting all depressed," I chuckle, setting her onto her feet and dragging her along. Seriously, she is promptly refusing to walk. "Minori, what are you doing?"

"Oh the agony!" she dramatically puts the back of her hand on her forehead. "To learn that two of those I know are…-ts really mean…"

"WHO GAVE MINORI SHAKES-PEAR!" I groan.

Yuka blinks back at me. "Don't you mean _Shakespeare?_" she wonders.

My eyes roll. "What's the difference?" I snap.

"Well, you said it like the last part of his name is a fruit," Kota defends.

I stop in my tracks. "Wait, pears are _fruit_?" Hey, this is news to me! For whatever reason, everyone but Nana and Minori sigh in defeat. WHAT THE HELL?**!** Can there not be _one _situation where only Minori and Nana are agreeing with me or _not_ bagging on my education?**!**

The rest of the walk goes on along the lines of that. May I say that by the end of it Minori is snoozing on my back and Nana is unconscious over Kota's shoulder. "Did you really have to push her into the sewer-drain?" Mayu wonders. When I nod, she sighs again. If I hear another sigh today, I am going to lose it! "Try getting along with Nana, please Lucy? If you're nice to her, she's nice back!" I glare, making her laugh nervously. "I-I know she tried to kill you and all, but…" She trails off with that.

Minori cuts out conversation short, thankfully, when she proclaims that we have arrived and that she needs to tinkle. Yuka and Mayu take her to find a bathroom, leaving Kota, Nana, and I to find out what the heck to do at the beach. Kota suggests just walking around. I suggest picking seashells, but when Kota flinches, I also suggest that we can dig for Minori's benefit. Nana says that is dumb and that we should get out of here because of Bando. Even though this alarms Kota by quite a bit, he refuses.

"We came here for a reason," says he. "Lucy needs a breather from losing her job, and this was all we could think of."

Nana turns red a little. "What about a restaurant or something?" she argues. "In the paper, it even talked about a festival being held _five blocks_ from the inn!"

With a sigh, I cross my arms and glare at her. "Nana, this is what Minori-"

"We came here for _you!_" she argues. "Stop treating Minori like a spoiled brat!"

Rage fills my lungs. The only reason I do not slap her or chop her into bird feed is because Minori wants to go 'monster hunting'. I really doubt she wants to come back and hear me say I killed the monster already. 'Aw man!' she would most likely say. Taking a deep breath, my glare settles on Nana's hat. It is just your average baseball cap with slight bulges at the top (and I don't mean the very top because we are not freaking giraffes). "Look," I growl, "Minori's parents _died_. She was kicked out of her own _house_. She has nowhere to go, and Minori is the best little thing in the world that I can think of!" My voice starts to rise. "SO SHUT UP ABOUT MINORI AND DEAL WITH IT!"

The next words make my heart stop. "Mommy and Daddy aren't dead, Lucy-san." Slowly, my legs cooperate and turn my body to Minori, Yuka and Mayu sadly standing behind her. The worst part of this situation is the fact that Minori is _smiling._ Sure, the smile is slightly sad, but it is still there. "They went away and left Will." She waddles up in front of me and hugs my waist. "Don't worry~ When they come back, I'll still visit you guys!"

I think everyone wants to cry right now. All but Nana probably want to shout out 'they're not coming back'. Nana's expression turns into one of shame and sand shifts at her feet due to the vector gripping the sand. "Well," she sighs, "monster hunting?"

"Oh!" Minori cheers. "You're helping to? Come on Lucy, we have to hunt Mr. Veggie Monster!"

Agony and rage disappear as I look down at her with a smile and raised brows. "Oh it's a mister now?" I chuckle.

She nods and drags me over next to Nana, in which we proceed to dig with our hands. This makes Nana and I smile, seeing as it is obvious Minori has not obtained her vectors yet. With that, Kota, Yuka, and Mayu start walking around. Mayu heads off in one direction as Yuka and Kota gather seashells. The digging goes nowhere, of course, but does result in Nana getting the idea of _sand forts_. I am personally too old for this kind of crap, but what do they care?

"Yay!" Minori cheers, digging another hole nearby. "Sand forts! Lucy, can you help me build mine?"

When I go to do so, Nana starts whining how unfair it is. I remind her that Minori is _seven_ and a full six years younger. In so, she cannot do as much. Nana agrees eventually and lets me help Minori secure her structure. Sand starts to fly after everything is checked, so I retreat to the shore and walk along it. Too late, I remember that sand plus the eyes equals unpleasant pain. I already walked too far, so why bother? Yet again, if Minori gets hurt…

I turn to go back, but screaming makes me dart the way I was going. "MAYU!" I scream. "MAYU WHAT-"

_**BAM!**_

"NGH!" I stop, grabbing my left arm. Blood trickles down, warm and sticky, from a new bullet wound in my shoulder. So much for my vectors, huh? My glare fixates on the culprit, Bando the crippled soldier.

…I have really got to stop reading those cop novels. They are taking over my way of life!

Back to the matter at hand…Bando snickers as he aims the barrel of the gun at my face. Mayu is off a ways, holding Wanta the dog-or Wanta the constant-run-a-way I should say-as she stares in terror. "Lucy!" she runs forward. The barrel faces her instead. "AH!"

"DON'T YOU DARE POINT THAT AT MAYU!" I tackle him. A sharp blow to my gut sends me stumbling back and the barrel whips across my face. The sand in my cheek-cut does no better to help it than it does worsening it. "Owowowow!"

"Hurts, doesn't it?" he chuckles. "Being on the sand, bleeding out, getting dirt mixed into the cut?" Mayu tries to run, but a bullet that shoots next to her makes her stiff. "Don't try it, girlie! Lucy is my opponent!"

_God, I know I have killed, but please, for once in my life, do not pull this kind of crap on me?_ "No, I am not," I hiss, standing up. Warmth starts to burn my fingers. "Right now, I lost my job because of some old whore, so please don't piss me off."

He seems a bit stunned. Maybe he has never heard the word 'please' before? Nah, can't be it, because I bet someone has at least told him 'please die' before. "…You're asking me…to not piss you off?" he asks. Okay, shoot down my theories you jerk. I nod slowly, growing impatient. "…Why?"

"Okay, I know you're somewhat blind, but you're _soo_ not deaf," I snap. Another bullet into my body. This time it chose the knee. WONDERFUL! "'EY!"

"Cut it out with the insults and I _might_ consider it!" he retorts.

Mayu is trembling as she walks to my side, tearing off some of her shirt and prying my hand from the wound. The bullet is still in there, but it is thankfully loose. After plucking it out, she wraps the shirt-piece around my arm and faces Bando. "Bando-san, please…Our friends and I just came to help Lucy relax from losing her job."

A groan breaks through the tension and we turn to Nana, covered in sand. "I _knew_ this was going to happen," she mutters.

"Oh, I see you brought the other," Bando aims his gun at Nana. This I do not really protest. Nana is wide-eyed at the barrel. Before long, she is clinging to Mayu, leaving one little character in her wake.

Minori.

"AH SHIT!" I scramble up, kicking sand behind me in order to dash in front of her. "Minori, sweetie, go ba-"

_**BAM!**_

"CUT IT OUT WITH THAT THING!" I roar, holding Minori so she is away from the bullet hole in the sand.

Minori is blinking, confused obviously. She turns to Bando and tilts her head. "Are you hurt?" she asks.

Bando is now even more stunned than before. "…Huh?"

"Are you hurt?" she repeats innocently. He shakes his head. "Then why are you shooting Lucy-san?"

Bando chuckles and points to his eyes and fake arm. "These aren't real, kid. Wanna know why?" he smirks.

I narrow my eyes, if that is even possible at this point. _**"Don't you dare."**_

Minori is confused still. She lets out a whine and shakes her head. "Lucy, my head hurts!" she grabs it, shaking it. I guess too much thinking does that to a kid.

I bounce her a little and poke her forehead with my nose. "Okay, okay. Let's get home or something to get you in bed. Come on Mayu, Nana! And Bando?" His gun faces me. "If you ever come near Minori, I swear your nuts are the first to go." With that I stomp off.

Kota and Yuka freak out over the bullet hole, of course. It is decided that we go to a hospital and get some help there, since lead poisoning is not a pleasant experience. As we walk, my arm stings and Minori pokes my thigh. "Lucy, what made him lose his eyes?" she squeaks. "And how are they gone?"

I shrug. "All I know is that they are fake eyes," I lie. Again, it hurts to lie…but I just do not want Minori hating me for being a vicious killer.


	10. Relax

Linkinparkfan9799 Stories

_Elfen Lied-Anime_

_Rated T for Gore and Cursing_

**Minori**

**Chapter Nine**

_**Relax: Minori**_

I cling to Lucy's leg.

She's swinging the leg I'm on for some reason, standing in the one spot in the hall that she is most likely to get run into: the middle. I am not really sure why she's just standing there, but I will cling until further notice. The good part is that Lucy doesn't seem to mind it; however she doesn't really seem to be paying attention either. Tugging on her skirt really doesn't help either, sadly. Her arm is wrapped in bandages and some is loose, but I don't want the red stuff under the white to go dripping down again. It's scary!

Kota walks out of the kitchen/eating room and sees us, staring more at me than Lucy. "Minori, you should probably leave Lucy alone," he gulps, scratching the back of his neck. "I mean, she needs her rest after all."

"She's not bothering anybody," Lucy shrugs, wincing. I guess her arm hurts because of the action.

This does not really help her, seeing as Kota just crosses his arms and squints his eyes. "_You_ should be resting on a mat, not standing out in the hall," he huffs, sounding tired.

Lucy rolls her eyes and pries my hand off. I make some sort of noise of pain because her grip is kind of hard. She knows me really well, so she holds me in burping-position (Mom called it that) and pats my back. I am not really sure why, seeing as I don't need to be burped anymore, but I let her continue. They say a few more things each before Lucy sticks out her tongue and stomps to her room, slamming the sliding door shut. This is enough to make me wince.

I guess she forgot about carrying me, because she just sits on the mat without another word. All she does is sit, glaring at the door. It's a little scary, but Lucy's just angry. Maybe it's because Kota told her what to do? I don't know. After all, I haven't known these people for even fifteen days. In so, I let her hold me, staring at the door myself. Nothing is really interesting about it; it's just made of wood after all. So why would Lucy choose to stare at this thing?

Staring is boring, so I begin to tug on Lucy's hair. She glances down at me, glaring still, but it disappears with a roll of her eyes. "Don't tug my hair," she mutters, tugging my own. I giggle and keep tugging. This is fun! "Oh, so it's going to be that way, huh?"

We start tugging on each other's hair, laughing all the way, until Yuka barges in. She _loudly_ she demands 'what all the fuss is about' when she looks at Lucy. Yuka screams and pushes me out, slamming the door and noise comes from inside. As I frown and sit on the ground, Kota, Nana, and Mayu run up. "What happened?" Mayu gasps.

I shrug. "Were you in there?" Kota asks. I nod. "Then how do you not know what happened?"

I shrug again. "Yuka pushed me out before I could see anything. Just like my babysitter did." None of them say a word to me after that comes out.

"_**They treat us like shit…"**_ I jump and whirl around. Nothing is there, just the walls and whatnot. With a burning curiosity, I push myself onto my feet and rush forward, turning the corner and looking around. Where is she? I know that girl is here somewhere! _**"You need to kill before they do…"**_ Why does she keep saying those weird things?

Nana comes around the corner as I peek behind the clock. "Lose something?" she wonders.

I look up and down before sighing. "My mind," I grumble, crossing my arms in a pout. I swore I just heard that girl!

Sometime passes by as Nana and I sit on the branches of the tree outside. I'm nervous about climbing down for dinner, but she catches me, like Lucy did last time I climbed a tree. We walk in, the little puppy Mayu has trailing behind us. He seems cold, so I pick him up and hug him so his fur can warm up. In the kitchen, Yuka stirs a pot of steam while Lucy sits grumpily on the ground, tapping the table in impatience. Kota is chopping something green and Mayu is writing on paper across from Lucy. Wonta leaps out of my arms to meet Mayu, making me scream. As a result, everyone drops what they're doing and faces me.

"Oh, Wonta!" Mayu rolls her eyes, picking up the puppy. "Don't scare Minori like that!"

"Honestly, you shouldn't be afraid of a-…"Nana starts. "…Minori. Get your face out of my back, please."

Her back smells like grass. Last time I checked, she didn't fall onto the grass with her back this time. Well, unless I was imagining things that is. "Minori's not here right now!" I argue. "Leave a message after the beep! BEEEEEP!"

"Minori!" Nana whines.

Someone laughs and pries me away from Nana, holding me themselves. This person is Lucy, smiling like the pretty person she is. "Relax Nana!" Lucy ruffles her hair. "She's just startled is all."

Nana motions to bite Lucy's hand, but Lucy takes it back before the teeth can get to the skin. Kota and Yuka sigh in relief and go back to cooking as Lucy walks back to the table, setting me next to her. On the table are six bowls, which makes me wonder how Wonta is getting fed. Although I doubt that they would leave the puppy starving. I mean even I haven't been starved and I'm more of a freak then anyone in this room! Well, Nana and Lucy are the same as me, so maybe I shouldn't say that…

Yuka serves some mixture of noodles, onions, green things, and bean sprouts. When I ask her what it is, she tells me it's something called _Soy Ramen._ "Soy doesn't sound good," I say, wrinkling my nose. Seriously, _soy_. Sounds like a messed up toy if you ask me.

Lucy sighs and picks up her chopsticks, using the arm without the bandages. "The Veggie Monster's not gonna like that…" V-VEGGIE MONSTER?**!** She probably sees the look of fear on my face, because she tilts her head. What else would she be tilting her head at? "Don't you know? Soy Ramen has vegetabl-AH! Minori, don't eat it that fast!"

Got to make sure I eat my vegetables! GOT TO MAKE SURE I EAT MY VEGETABLES! Kota, of course, pries the bowl away from me. I start crying and Lucy picks me up, patting my back as I hug her neck while sobbing. Well what do you expect? I don't want the icky veggie monster sneaking in at night, raping me, killing everyone in front of me, forcing me to eat their bodies because I wouldn't eat simple _vegetables_, and then making me into vegetable-or Minori-soup!

Nana asks me why I'm crying. Everyone gives her the look people give others when they say something stupid, but I tell her word by word what the Veggie Monster will do to me if Kota doesn't give me my bowl back and let me eat. I don't know why, but everyone stares at me funny when I finish. His hand trembles as Kota gives me my bowl back, allowing me to continue eating.

More time passes as I play with Wonta and Mayu. Nana just watches as she slowly eats her Ramen, staring at the green parts with wide eyes. I can tell we share the fear of the Veggie Monster, but maybe if I act brave, she won't be scared anymore? I don't know. I might try it next time the topic comes up. Yuka, Kota, and Lucy are in the kitchen still and they told us to play outside or something, so I'm not sure what's going on. Hopefully it's nothing serious!

As we play, Wonta barks playfully and runs around our ankles. He stops eventually and stares at the tree. We stare at him in return. He starts barking loudly, more mean than playful this time. I look up at the tree to see what the problem is, and I end up frozen myself. _**"They treat us like shit…You need to kill before they do…"**_

"Wonta, what are you barking at?" Mayu groans, picking up the puppy. "You're scaring Minori!"_ He's not the one scaring me…_"Okay, let's go inside guys. Wonta needs to relax a bit before he barks his snout of, you know?"

Nana laughs, making me glare at her. "Why would you laugh at something as awful as that?" I snap. "That's just mean!"

"It was a joke, couldn't you tell?" Nana asks.

"But it could happen!" I argue. "The Veggie Monster-"

Mayu sighs and pats my head before I can continue. "Minori, no more Veggie Monster business," she huffs. "He's not real."

"Yes he is!" I whine. "Lucy said-"

"_Lucy lied,_" she sighs. "I'm sorry it went on this long, but it's obviously scaring you."

I blink. My eyes can't stop blinking for a while. Eventually I shake my head and run inside, barging into the kitchen. "LUCY!" I cry. She jumps as I tackle her, crying. "LUCY! MAYU'S CALLING YOU A LIAR!"

She sits there, blinking as I cry. Lucy pats my head and picks me up. Footsteps enter after a bit. "Mayu, what am I lying about?" Lucy asks.

"The Veggie Monster," Mayu huffs.

"She thinks he's by the tree now," Nana informs.

My sobs stop. I turn to them, eyes wide. "No I don't," I blink. "That's the girl."

Lucy blinks and stares at me. "What girl?" she asks. Yuka and Kota are paralyzed.

"She's the girl I saw in the woods!" I exclaim. "I also heard her earlier, but she was hiding! She keeps saying weird things-"

"Minori's trying to scare us now," Nana huffs, disappointed. "I guess she wants to get back at you."

My face grows red. "I'm not lying!" I shriek.

Lucy bounces a little. "Okay, calm down," she comforts.

"Minori, there was nothing there," Mayu blinks. "You probably saw-"

"I'M NOT LYING!" I scream.

"_ENOUGH!"_ Kota yells. This makes me jump and Lucy have to tighten her hold for me not to fall. Kota is red, angry looking. "EVERYONE JUST GO TO BED! LUCY WAS SUPPOSED TO RELAX TODAY YOU KNOW! NOW LOOK AT HER!"

Lucy tilts her head before glancing at her arm to see the red flowing again. Mayu gasps and Nana sucks in her chest. I blink at it and try to poke it before Kota yells his order again, making all of us scramble into our rooms.

Shut in my own, I hug my pillow and look around. _Relax, relax Minori,_ I tell myself. _She can't get you here.__** "Liars…"**_ Remembering Kota's anger, I bite back the scream that threatens to come out. _**"You can see me…They're lying…You know what happens to liars?"**_ I keep quiet. _**"WE KILL THEM."**_

"S-Shut up…" I whisper, hugging the pillow tighter. "Y-You're not-"

"_**Turn around. I'm right here."**_

I really want to. So much that it scares me. My head turns a bit, but I shut my eyes and stuff my face into my pillow. "No!" I whimper.

"_**Turn around…"**_

"No!"

"_**Turn. Around."**_

"No!"

"_**I SAID TURN AROUND!"**_

The yelling makes me remember Kota's red face. I start crying and keep my face buried in the pillow. If I just ignore her long enough, she will go away. She will go away. Maybe the Veggie Monster will take her, because she didn't eat any vegetables tonight. _Go away. Go away. You made them think I was a liar. Go away._ Something inside of me relaxes, though I can't even remember what that word means anymore, and turn in hopes that the feeling of security and safeness means she's gone.

All I face, though, is the wall.

**-Author's Note—**

**And so the voice has a weakness…**


	11. Hanta

Linkinparkfan9799 Stories

_Elfen Lied-Anime_

_Rated T for Gore and Cursing_

**Minori**

**Chapter Eleven**

_**Hanta: Lucy**_

I tap the sliding doors to Minori's room.

The sun is high, and Minori really has not come out all day. It worries me. I tap the slide again and frown at the silence that follows. The grandfather clock in the hall ticks annoyingly as I wait for Minori to open the door. The tapping goes up to knocking, which eventually turns into banging. No matter what, she just doesn't want to come out. Since Minori is no more than seven, I give up and sulk into the kitchen. It would have been nice to have seen her smile.

The slide to the kitchen opens as I claw into its side and I see Mayu doing homework, Yuka cooking, Kota eating, and Nana waiting. For some reason she was waiting for Minori, but I honestly thought she hated her! "Is Minori okay?" she asks. Nana hasn't even touched her ramen.

I shake my head and sit next to her, patting her head. "She isn't coming out…Damn it Kota, why did you have to yell at her?**!**" I scold.

Kota sighs and sets his chopsticks down, staring at me sternly. How many times have I seen that stare in my life? "I was thinking of your health," he informs plainly. "Seriously, the wound isn't bleeding now, is it?"

A slam echoes in the whole room. Ignoring my hand that has slapped the table on its own accord, I start yelling at Kota in turn. "PUT YOURSELF IN MINORI'S SHOES!" I shriek. "YELLING IS NOT GOING TO MAKE HER HAPPY, AND SHE WAS JUST SCARED. WOULDN'T YOU BE SCARED IF YOU THOUGHT YOU SAW SOMETHING IN THE DARK?**!**" The irritation in my veins makes my right eye twitch.

Everyone in the room flinches. They just don't understand…Minori is sweet and honest, so why would they think she was lying? They have known her as long as I have for crying out loud! Why do I seem to be the only one who thinks about how she would react, cares about how she would feel? Yuka sets bowls in front of us with Cha-Su Ramen (Ramen in Pork broth and Sweet Roasted Pork) while looking solemn. "Lucy," she whispers, "I know Minori did not deserve his yelling, but please calm down." When I promptly refuse to, her frown deepens. "Minori can probably hear you from her room."

This is my turn to frown. We decide to eat in silence, all of us with deep frowns on our faces. The atmosphere is stuffy and uncomfortable, but that is probably because of the lack of air conditioning. The worst part is that summer is going to be coming up in a few months, and that time of the year always makes this inn feel like Hell on Earth. Yet again, springs are generally cool here, so I guess that is not it. I notice the extra bowl of Cha-Su Ramen Yuka set out next to me out of awkwardness. The bowl is fairly small, seeing as the person it is, in turn, small herself.

Minori.

Gripping my chopsticks, I bite my lower lip. I just feel so irritated…_**"He did it…"**_ I freeze in place. _**"He made her sad…Why else is she locked in there?**_" Maybe she forgot how to open slides?_Oh really? That's the dumbest suggestion I have ever heard!__** "He made her sad…Don't you want to rid Minori of the stuff that makes her sad?"**_ "Lucy?" _**"Don't you want her to smile?"**_ "Hey, you okay?"_ Shut up…__**"DO YOU WANT HER TO SUFFER?**_**!"** "Lucy?**!**"

"SHUT UP!" I roar, slamming my fist onto the table. _Snap!_ Ugh, there go the chopsticks…Silence weighs over again and I glance up, pink strands of hair hanging in my face. Kota, Yuka, and Mayu are staring at me in shock. Nana is staring at me in rage. Guess that would explain the two transparent hands in my face. "…Nana, get your vectors away from me."

She refuses to obey. "You might lose it," she snaps. I don't make any further demands. "You hearing voices again?"

Mayu whimpers and stands abruptly, eyes squeezed tight. "Lucy has been on a clean streak! Why would those voices suddenly come back?"

_**He made her sad…**_Saliva goes down my throat in a solid chunk. If I tell them that my DNA is talking on the benefit of Minoir, they will probably kick her out! I shake my heavy head, biting my lower lip still. "No…Just thinking to myself."

They seem to accept that answer and continue on with their meal. The air is stuffier and even more uncomfortable than before. So it was our attitudes that caused this. Glancing at the hand firmly placed on the table, I see the chopsticks broken into two pieces, my palm red due to the breakage (if that is even a word). I stand to throw them out before something slams in the hall. "What the-"-Kota starts.

The kitchen slide flings open as well, revealing a little blanket ghost with a fat torso. "Ooga-booga!" it chants, rushing in. "Ooga-OOMPH!" it trips.

We all stare at it. Nana blinks and crawls over, poking it. The mass giggles and rolls on the floor, little arms flailing from under the blanket. Kota smiles a bit and Yuka giggles. I chuckle myself and walk over, picking up the wriggling thing. "Hehe, look guys," I smirk. "Veggie Monster has a rival."

"That's right!" it proclaims. "I am the Veggie-Monster-Eating-Ghost, Hanta*!" The little arms brush my face as they reach out. "Have no fear, for I am your…Er…"

"Ally?" Mayu laughs. Nana laughs as well.

Hanta just nods and kicks their feet, wanting to be on the ground again. I set them down and they start circling me. After a few circles (lost count after fifteen), they hug me tightly and move on to Nana. This is repeated until, at last, it is done to Yuka. "Ta-Da!" they cheer. "I have done it!"

Nana tilts her head in confusion. "Done what?" she asks.

Hanta puts their arms on their hips (if they even have any). "Your friend, Minori, wanted to give you something special for her fifteenth day here!" they explain. "So all night she has been working to summon up me, the Veggie-Monster-Eating-Ghost, Hanta! I have just now preformed a spell that prevents the monster from raping, eating, and misusing any of you!" Bright smiles stretch across our faces. The air gets lighter and Hanta rushes to the slide. "I shall now get Minori, for she is starving and did not know that breakfast was ready! Ooga-booga!" With that, Hanta runs out.

A few minutes later, the slide opens again to show Minori, her hair sticking up in every-which-way and her tiny dress on backwards. "Hanta told me breakfast was ready!" she cheers, skipping over next to me. She stares into the bowl and blinks. "…What's this?"

"Cha-Su Ramen," Yuka informs as the younger Diclonius sits down. "It has roasted pork (pig) and noodles."

Minori stares at the thing in absolute horror. "No! The piggies!" Then she starts crying.

My laughter cannot be contained and I form a cat grin, glancing at the window with innocent eyes. "Oh, did I not tell you about the Pork-Monster?"

"Oh bother…" Kota slaps his forehead.

Minori stares at me and stands up, yanking my horn. "What's a pork monster?" she asks, sucking her thumb.

I tug her into my lap and rock her a bit, almost like a baby. "The Pork-Monster is like the Veggie-Monster, except the Pork-Monster is a bit more...nice. He doesn't like it when you eat the pigs people kill. Otherwise they would have died for nothing."

She tilts her head and blinks, still sucking that thumb of hers. "So we should eat dead bodies to?"

OH MY GOD! "NONONO!" I shake my head madly, waving my hands in front of my face. "Absolutely _NOT_!"

Surprisingly, she does not seem all that affected by the yelling. "But this is part of a dead body…" she stares at the contents of the bowl.

My head slams into my bowl of Cha-Su, making _everyone_ laugh. My DNA does not return, despite my stress level, and I lift my noodle-head out of the bowl, broth dripping down my face. "…Ask Hanta," I finally answer.

"…Okay!" Minori cheers, skipping out.

I smile, grabbing my napkin and wiping my face. No matter what, these guys wouldn't kick out little Minori. Her name may be 'Truth', but she's more than that. She makes us happy when we're upset. She breaks up the tension, even if she creates some. She even believes in us. So, against all things that make us sad, angry, or uncomfortable, she is 'Hanta'.

**-Author's Note-**

***Hanta-The Japanese word for hunter.**


	12. Park

Linkinparkfan9799 Stories

_Elfen Lied-Anime_

_Rated T for Gore and Cursing_

**Minori**

_**Chapter Twelve**_

_**Park: Minori**_

I tap the tree I stand in front of.

"HELLO!" I shout at it. Nothing comes out of the hole in the wood. I pout and try again. "HELLO!"

"And that's enough," Lucy picks me up from behind, holding me in burping position. "Don't want to disturb the squirrels, do we?"

Days have passed since Hanta came to the inn. If my counting is correct, it is now my twentieth-second day. Kota and Yuka have school, and so does Mayu, so Nana, Lucy, and I wanted to do something different other than play in the yard. We came to a park, where the grass is green and the birds are loud. Some other people are here, but I don't think we're supposed to talk to them.

Nana is climbing a tree, sticking her tongue out at Lucy. "Look! I can climb this tree!"

Lucy blinks, looking bored. "And I care…why?"

"Because you're not climbing one!" She makes a funny sound when her tongue sticks out farther. "So _neh~_"

My feet touch the grass when Lucy sets me onto the ground again. She stomps over to the tree and starts climbing it, grunting every time she pulls herself up higher. I waddle over and shrink next to it. The height is really-really big, like the Pork Monster. He's actually really nice, but not many people know that because he's so big and mean-looking. It makes me sad thinking of how many tears he cries when people confuse him with the Veggie Monster and call him a rapist and what not.

Something snaps and Nana screams. She falls down on the ground, another snap following. "Nana, be careful of the sticks on the ground!" I hurry over, rolling her onto her belly.

She glares at the grass brushing her nose. "That. Was. Not. A. Stick." Her voice is as chopped up as vegetables in Miso soup.

Lucy drops down from the tree and lands on her hands and feet. A little popping sound comes from her fingers, but that can't be anything major, right? "Oh my word," Lucy sighs. "You gloat about climbing trees, yet you fall off harder than an egg splatters against concrete from the _Tokyo Tower_." Her eyes roll as she says this.

"Oh stop _nagging_ and get me to a damn hospital!" Nana shrieks. Her face twitches as if something is wrong with her speaking.

A what? "Are you an idiot? You go there and you die!" Lucy snaps. "The only thing we can do is do it ourselves…"

"You better get some ice before you _dare_ move my ribs around!"

Now I am officially confused. "Ribs?" I ask. "But you didn't bring any food with you." '_SLAP'_ sounds out as Nana slaps her forehead. Does she like pain or something? "Do you like pain or something?"

Nana turns to me with some cross between a tired expression and a giving up one. "All things come from somewhere, right?" she asks me. I nod. "Where do you think ribs come from?" I glance at her chest, then at her head, and then at her chest again. I scream and she flinches. "Yeah. That's what I thought."

"Lucy!" I cling to the elder. "We have to help Nana!"

She gives me a look of thought and sighs, patting my head. Apparently she does not like her choice (whatever that may be). "Okay, I will. You, however, stay right by this tree. Do _NOT_ move away from it. Not for play mates, not for ice cream, not for _anything_. You understand me?" The strong tone of her voice forces me to nod. "Good. Okay Nana, this is gonna hurt…"

"Oh joy," Nana grumbles. She yelps when Lucy pulls her up and carries her on her shoulder. "YOU'RE DOING THIS ON PURPOSE AREN'T YOU?**!**"

Lucy hugs Nana closer to her shoulder. Even at this distance I can hear something scratching together. "Whatever would give you that idea?" Lucy yawns, patting her mouth.

I giggle, personally. It's just so funny, you know? So I sit against the trunk of the tree, like Lucy said to. I pat down my hat and play with each strand of grass, wondering about what the use of grass is. Maybe it's a way the Earth can protect itself? Maybe it's just pretty? Eh, who knows? I guess I'll just ask Lucy when she comes back…My eyelids start to get heavy, so I lie on the grass and start to roll around. For some reason, I find it fun, but the bugs that keep clinging to my dress are left to be unwanted.

Since everything is spinning, I start to feel sick and stop. I don't want to have to leave early because I barf up my guts and things, you know? People stare at me oddly as I sit, waiting for my belly to settle down and relax so I can walk again. "So odd…" "I know, right?" Why must people judge when they don't know me?

"I'M TELLING YOU I DON'T KNOW YOU!"

…Lucy?

"LET ME GO YOU CRAZY BASTARD!"

That doesn't sound real good, now does it? I hop up and run in the direction of Lucy's cries. People stare at something, but the ring of bystanders is too much for me to get through. "Stop it, you freak!" _Click-clackity-click!_

"GET THESE HANDCUFFS OFF ME BEFORE I SUE!"

"SHUT UP!"_ WHAP!_

My tiny arms push at everyone's knees. They refuse to pay attention. "E-Excuse me!" I yelp. "Please g-get out of the way!"

_WHAP! WHAP! SLAP! WHAM! CRUNCH! SLAP! WHAP! CRACK! OOMPH!_ "Fight! Fight! Fight!" some slightly older people chant.

"NO! No fighting!" I yell. The others start to whisper and murmur and chatter, so I am not heard. _CRACK! CRUNCH! SLAP! OOMPH! WHAP! WHAM! WHAP! SLAP! CRUNCH! AIIIEE!_** "CUT IT OUT!"** I blackout for a second. Next thing I know I'm choking a man wearing black glasses and holding Lucy's face away. "NO! NO FIGHTING! FIGHTING! IS! BAD!" Well, I might have not wanted to be in this position, but might as well roll with things, right?

Lucy glances at the stranger, than me. She does this again. Nana is on a bench a bit of a ways away, a pack of ice pushed against her lower chest by white pieces of what looks like cloth. She looks as well, her eyes narrowing (probably can't see real well from there). The elder sighs and pats my head, standing herself while tugging at some metal rings around her wrists. Are these the handcuffs she mentioned? "You people are ruining this!" she yells at the man. "I _try,_ honest to God _try_, to show Minori a relaxing time, and you bastards keep mucking things up! SO CUT IT OUT! I DON'T KNOW YOU PEOPLE!"

I shrink and crawl to Nana, clinging to her leg. "M-Man…" I gulp. "Lu-Lucy can be scary."

Nana giggles and pats my cap. "Tell me about it…Hey Lucy! There's an ice cream stand nearby!"

Lucy glares at the man for a bit longer before coming over and tagging us over to a white cart. The old man there seems to be worn out. "Hey, three vanilla cones, please," she says. He refuses to budge from his seemingly sleepy-time. "Hey!" She starts snapping her fingers in front of his face.

While she tries to get him to wake up, I glance back to see the same man still watching us, a little silver key in his mouth. A shudder goes through my body and I hug Lucy from behind. Bando and this stranger are equally weird in my mind…


	13. Copy

Linkinparkfan9799 Stories

_Elfen Lied-Anime_

_Rated T for Gore and Cursing_

**Minori**

_**Chapter Thirteen**_

_**Copy: Lucy**_

I seethe in rage as I bite into my chopsticks.

"Lucy, you _do _know that Yuka hasn't finished dinner, right?" Kota sighs, setting the newspaper down. I guess that would explain the homely atmosphere I see to get from these people.

I set down the chewed chopsticks and stare at Kota plainly. He starts to get all uncomfortable and asks why I am doing such. This is where I blow into a full-throttle temper-tantrum. "It's not fair!" I scream, slamming the table. "Minori deserves to be able to relax and have fun, but all these weirdoes keep stalking me every time we go out to try!"

Yuka puts the bowl of miso soup on the table. Minori pouts and prods at it with her spoon. Guess she was expecting something else. Mayu turns to me and tries her best to smile. "Sorry to tell you this, but I don't think twice is that big of a-"

"It was more than that!" I argue. "There was the time Hoshi, Minori, and I went to Mrs. Hoshi's house! A black car kept following us until we passed city limits."

"Why would someone do that?" Nana asks as she unknowingly pours piping hot soup into Minori's lap.

"AIIEE!" Minori screams, jumping up and prying the skirt of her outfit off. Then she starts crying, right there in her underwear. "My skirt's ruined!" she complains.

With a sigh, I start leading her out to the bathroom. "Come on…You can't stand out here in your underwear forever you know," I huff. Well, you could if you danced on poles, but I don't see Minori doing that anytime soon.

She nods and complies. I leave her in the bathroom so she can get undressed and quickly grab some of Mayu's clothes. They seem kind of big for her, but they will have to make due. When I come back, Minori is playing with some stuff on the sink. It takes a bit to get her to stop, seeing as her face now looks like a clown from messing with the make-up there. Of course, she _refuses_ to take off the make-up because 'it makes her look as pretty as Lucy' (gee, thanks kid for downgrading my pride), so we return with her in clown make-up and too-big clothes.

Kota chokes on his food. Yuka drops both jaw and chopsticks. Mayu stares in horror as Nana falls over, laughing. "Um…Lucy?**!**" Yuka chokes.

"What?" I ask. Sorry, but I can't really be blamed for what Minori did, seeing as she's SEVEN and was left alone in front of MAKE-UP. It was _bound _to happen eventually. She points to Minori's face and I, again, say, "What?"

Minori tilts her head and slaps her face. She brings her hand away to find it covered in white face paint and red lipstick. "It's just make-up," she blinks. "It makes me look as pretty as Lucy, doesn't it?" More laughing from Nana. Is today 'Make Lucy Lose All Sense of Pride Day'?

Mayu laughs nervously and comes up, patting Minori's shoulder (probably too afraid to touch anything near that nightmare of a make-over). "M-Minori-san…M-Maybe a little less would work? I mean, those things can be bad for your skin…"

Again, Minori refuses to take it off. "No!" she whines. "I want to look like Lucy!" With that, she stomps to the table and starts shoving her miso soup into her mouth. I just sit next to her and eat. The only way to get her to stop is to make up _yet another_ monster, but I am not going to kill my little baby with monster-overflow…Wait what did I say? Ugh, this girl is literally turning me into a mother…

The others accept facts and move on. It's silent eating until I notice Minori copying the way I eat. I stop with noodles half-way in my mouth. Minori does so as well. "…What are you doing?" I ask, trying to keep the noodles in. They fall out and plop right back into the bowl, splashing some broth on my face. "Ah damn…"

"Lucy, maybe you should limit your language around Minori," Yuka suggests. "After all, she is seven…"

"So?" I tilt my head to the side to empha…empha...empha-something my confusion. "I saw a dog die when I was e_leven_. I don't think a little cuss here and there is going to harm Minori."

Nana keeps laughing, making me kick her in the side to shut her up. Mayu watches me as I try to hide the way I eat, but fail miserably. Minori just copies me, trying to hide her bowl as well and being just as unsuccessful. She even looks behind her, like I am, as if trying to look at the clownish girl copying her. I finish, as does Minori, and we both wash our bowls and chopsticks, the littler of 'me' doing it exactly how I do it. We drop them onto the counter and they both wobble in unison, almost identically. It sort of scares me on how much the universe knows what Minori is planning.

I hold no objections to her following me to my room. Not like I keep it a secret anyways. I do, however, mind it ever so much when she lies on top of me as I lay down on my futon to rest. "…Minori?"

"…Minori?"

I sigh, and so does she. Is this another attempt on making me try to feel better? Seriously, it feels like half of the day is reserved for chaos, and the rest of the day is reserved for her trying to help me. "Stop that."

"Stop that."

Oh this can get annoying quick. I wriggle a bit and end up dropping Minori onto the floor. "Oops! S-Sorry-!"

"WAAAAAAAH!" Minori cries, holding her head.

Footsteps immediately sound outside. Seriously, are they robots that are programmed to detect children's wails? I pick up Minori and start rocking her. "Shh…Shh…It's okay!" I gulp. Anyone else gonna bet that Kota's going to kill me if he finds out that I dropped her (on accident, but we ALL know Kota). _**I'll bet all the money in your pocket.**_ Shut up; you don't count DNA.

Yuka and the rest barge in as Minori bawls her eyes out of her skull and the make-up off of her face. "Lucy!" Yuka scolds.

"What?" I grumble. "You don't even know what happened!"

Nana glares and crosses her arms. "You hit her because she was copying you, huh?" she spits.

Minori stops and hiccups. She turns around while wiping the tears away, sniffling. "I hit my head because I was on Lucy and she moved…"

Yuka stomps over and yanks Minori from my grasp. But…Why do I want to hit Yuka now? Why is my first thought 'don't take my baby'? I mean, I'm not Minori's mother or anything. "Ugh, Lucy! She was just playing!"

The young Diclonius blinks up at Yuka and starts sucking her thumb. "I don't think she meant to…" she whispers.

Of course, Yuka will be Yuka. She ignores Minori and goes telling me off about how I shouldn't take things so hugely. When I protest, she points out about my paranoia with the people and the whole sailor-mouth routine I seem to have (and passing onto Minori) once something bad or unfortunate happens to me. Now I find that last bit perfectly normal, so I don't really see why she attacks me for it.

She sets Minori down so she can start using hand gestures. Minori, now being free, decides to copy_ Yuka_ this time, mimicking her scolding in a rude way. I can't help but chortle. Mayu laughs nervously and Nana stares. "Haha!" Kota laughs, seeing Minori's act.

"Is there something funny about this, Kota?**!**" Yuka roars. Honestly, I can see the devil horns on her head.

Minori then proceeds to stick two fingers behind her own head to resemble devil horns. She sticks out her tongue and mouths 'nyeh-nyeh, I'm meanie Yuka'. Mayu giggles and Yuka grumbles, stomping over to Kota, who keeps laughing. Honestly, I don't blame him! "Oh come on Yuka!" he chuckles. "Take a-"

_SLAP!_

Well, it had to happen sometime, neh? As Kota and Yuka bicker on, I stand and shimmy over to Minori. "Let's get that make-up off now," I push her back lightly.

"No!" Minori whines. "It makes me look as pretty as Lucy!"

Don't make another monster Lucy…Don't make another monster Lucy…"But you've been crying and now it's all smudged. You don't look like me much." Nice save, m-…I'm going insane, aren't I?

Minori pokes her cheek and pouts. "But there was more inside the bottles-!"

"Other people want to use that stuff, you know," I keep gently pushing her back. At least she is complying by walking forward. "It would be mean to use it all."

She pouts and hangs her head. "I'm sorry…" Again with the puppy eyes! STOP PULLING THOSE ADORABLE PUPPY EYES ON ME, MINORI!

With a sigh, I just keep pushing her forward gently. After a bit, she starts doing the same; gently pushing the air in front of her forward. I roll my eyes, thinking nothing of it. That is, until I see that her expression is not so light. She looks kind of nervous and serious at once. So…Why would she have that face if she's pushing air?

…

Who's there?


	14. Store

Linkinparkfan9799 Stories

_Elfen Lied-Anime_

_Rated T for Gore and Cursing_

**Minori**

_**Chapter Fourteen**_

_**Store: Minori**_

'_I seethe in rage as my mother slaps my boyfriend.'_

_Yuka sure reads some pretty weird stuff…_I return the book to the shelf before grabbing Alice In Wonderland. The cover looks weird, but if I'm going shopping with Mayu and Nana, I need something to keep me busy. I run out to find Kota talking to Nana and Mayu at the door.

It scares me to see Kota so scary looking. "And don't talk to strangers!" he barks. "We can't have you three kidnapped or something!"…What's wrong with a kid nap? Is he saying that we can't sleep for an hour in the day and we can only sleep at night for whatever stretch of time we have to sleep? Boy, I never knew that…

Mayu laughs nervously and waves him off, her nervous smile tilted diagonally with her head. "Don't worry, Kota!" she laughs. "Both of us are old enough to tell pedos from regular people. Minori, however…" She catches sight of me and jumps back a bit. "Oh, Minori! You scared me a bit!"

Nana faces me and gives me a small smile. "You ready to go, Minori?" she asks. _No, I'm dressed, have a book, and wearing my cap because I'm lazing around the house._ Heehee; I learned this thing called 'sarcasm' from Lucy and Yuka two days ago. I think I'm really getting the hang of it!

Keeping my mouth shut, I nod. "Great!" Mayu giggles. She takes a slip of paper from Kota and pushes the door open, rushing out. "We'll be back at two o' clock, Kota!"

"Don't be late!" he calls after us as we race out.

Since I'm short, it's hard to keep up with both Nana and Mayu. It's a good thing they decide to stop running after a bit. After all, I'm already a block behind! "Wait up!" I call across a street. I dash into the street and hear a horn blare. I scream and jump back as a car darts by, the person inside obviously not liking kids due to calling me a 'dumb fuck'. Doesn't really sound nice, now does it?

Across the street, Mayu and Nana shake their heads a lot. So much, it makes me feel a bit dizzy myself! "DON'T CROSS THE STREET UNTIL THE LITTLE SIGN HERE SHOWS A WALKING PERSON!" Mayu shouts, pointing to a tiny square with a red hand attached to a pole.

Walking person? What the heck is she talking about? All I see is a-A white stick figure of someone walking pops up. Oh. I race across, screaming, and tackle Mayu as I cry. "MAYU!" I whine. "THE CARE NEARLY MADE ME A STREET STAIN!"

Both stare at me before trying their best to cheer me up. They even go as far as 'peek-a-boo', which even _I_ think is stupid because they don't actually disappear. That would be a neat trick to see though. They stop when I laugh at Nana running into a pole (some sort of acting thing…) and we continue with our trip. Today we're going shopping otherwise we're not going to have anything to eat and we'll starve and we won't be able to please the Ham Monster who, in turn, won't fend off the Veggie Monster and we'll all be raped, gutted, eaten (chewed slowly as a matter of fact), and forced to live in his tummy!

And yes, Hanta's power is sadly temporary. I guess I should tell the others that when we get back. Nana taps my shoulder, so I smile up at her. "Are you excited to go to a store?" she asks, also smiling.

I nod. "Yep! Daddy and I used to go to the store all the time!" Both stop suddenly and fall silent. "What? It's true! We got peaches and grapes and apples and books and paper and pencils and ceral boxes and chicken and carrots and more peaches and even more peaches and sometimes toys if I was good or it was a special day, like May third!"

They stare at me as I remember the days Daddy and I went to the store. Oh did we get a lot of stuff! I especially liked the peaches we used to get, so every time Mommy or Daddy went out, they always, _always_ got me peaches. They look so cute too, so it's hard not to eat them!

"Well, let's get to the store quick then," Mayu sighs sadly. "I mean, they might have pea-MINORI WAIT UP!"

_PEACHES PEACHES PEACHES PEACHES PEACHES PEACHES PEACHES PEACHES PEACHES PEACHES PEACHES PEACHES PEACHES PEACHES PEACHES PEACHES PEACHES PEACHES PEACHES PEACHES PEACHES PEACHES PEACHES PEACHES PEACHES PEACHES PEACHES PEACHES PEACHES PEACHES PEACHES PEACHES PEACHES PEACHES PEACHES PEACHES PEACHES PEACHES PEACHES PEACHES_

"MINORI!" Nana yells. "SLOW DOWN! YOU'RE GOING TO-!"

Something hard slams into my head and I fall back. "OWIE!" I cry, holding my head.

Mayu and Nana sigh as they run up, Mayu hugging me and rocking me back and forth as Nana checks my head for something. "It's okay Minori!" Mayu comforts. "You were just excited and ran into the door!" Nana nods for some reason and both help me onto my feet. "Now, if you behave nicely in there, we'll get you a toy, okay?"

I sniffle before nodding. My head still hurts, and I have a guess my head is going to keep being beaten. Maybe, after I behave, I'll get a pillow so I have something to shield my head at all times. Oh, and some tape because (from personal experience) I know that pillows do not stick onto your head on its own.

We walk in and I see a lot of colorful and eye-hurting things inside. Purple grapes are stacked with green ones. Red apples are piled up with green ones. Orange pineapples are piled with green ones…Nature sure does love green, huh? Nana and Mayu walk forward and start to look around for whatever is named on the paper. Mayu lets me help a bit, but when it comes to getting the milk, I have trouble. The shelf is just too high!

"Here, let me," Nana yawns. A see-through arm reaches up and grabs the milk jug handle, lowering it down to me. "There we are! Keep a firm grip on it. We can't have it breaking before Mayu buys it."

"Okay Nana!" I giggle. She smiles and pats my cap. "Oh, and Nana?" Nana gives a small 'hn?' as her reply. "What were those arms?"

Both of them freeze and stare again. Do I keep saying the wrong things? Are the arms like that weird girl; they can't be seen by anyone but me? "…Lucy will explain it to you when you're old enough," Nana sighs. "It…It's just a thing with us Dicloni, okay?"

Wow. I didn't see that coming. I smile and nod happily. At least I'm not going crazy or anything; that would be scary! "Okay!" I turn to go to the next set of shelves. Suddenly, my butt is on the ground and I roll onto my back to keep the milk safe. "…Huh?"

"Oh crap."

Looking up, the familiar faces of the bullies at Mayu's school come into eye contact. "Well, well," the leader laughs. "Look what we've got here!"

Nana is confused, but Mayu is downright furious. "Go away!" she yells. "You don't need to harass us when we're _grocery shopping_!"

"On contra," he smiles like a fox again, "we have unfinished business with your pip-squeak pal here."

Before they can do anything, Mayu and Nana are pushed to the ground. Nana turns red and glares at them. "Go pick on someone your own-"

"KYAH!" Mayu screams as one of the bullies kicks her in the back.

Nana's eyes go wide. I gasp and try to get up, but my back is stomped on. The milk jug falls and cracks on the ground, milk leaking out. _What the…WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?_! "Mayu!" I cry. "MAYU!"

Laughter. "Shut up, noisy brat!" I roll onto my back to face them, but at the wrong time.

_**WHAM!**_

"MINORI!"

**-Author's Note-**

**Lame, I know…Next chapter will be**

**A)Longer**

**And**

**B)Better**


	15. Motherly

Linkinparkfan9799 Stories

_Elfen Lied-Anime_

_Rated T for Gore and Cursing_

**Minori**

_**Chapter Fifteen**_

_**Motherly: Lucy**_

I pace as the clock reads three o' clock.

Kota bites his knuckles, looking clammy. "They said they'd be back by two…" he mumbles, worried.

Yuka stares at the ground with unease. Rolling on the ground of the hall, I keep my eyes pinned to the door. "Lucy…Is that really necessary?" Yuka sighs.

"Yes, because it prevents me from freaking out," I snap. Getting up, the world starts spinning fast enough to make me fall again. Kota and Yuka help me up and hold me in place until I stop wobbling (and probably looking nauseous). "Seriously, what happened to them?"

"_Wah…Wah…"_

All three of us jump, startled. _Crying?_ "Wh-Where is that coming from?" Kota gasps.

"_Wah…Wah…"_

"_LUCY!"_

We gasp and rush out. "NANA!" we all. "Nana, what-"

My heart stops. The three of us freeze in place. At the top of the stairs are the three younger residents of the inn, sure…

…**but crippled.**

Mayu is hunched over, holding her stomach with one hand as the other arm is slung over Nana's shoulder. This is due to the bleeding scrape on her left leg. Her cheek is red and swollen and her hair is in massive tangles, despite it being short in length. Nana is less severe. Her hair is also in tangles and her clothes are a bit torn, but other than that, she only has a few cuts n' slices on her palms and knees.

Minori, on the other hand…Her left eye is black and swollen. Her nose is bent and bleeding. Her right leg is bruised and both cheeks are tomato red. The poor thing is crying, but you can barely tell whether or not it is from the massive swelling of her face or sorrow. "Wah…Wah…" she cries, rubbing her face with the backs of her wrists.

"…My _GOD!_" Yuka shrieks, rushing to them. "What the Hell happened?**!**" She takes Mayu and rushes her inside. Since the other two can walk, they only follow.

Kota and I are the last ones in. He locks the door while I stand there, staring into thin air. "…Guess we know what happened…" he mutters. Kota isn't so happy about this either, as it seems.

I honestly am at a loss for words. Having been through the shit human pull, that loss is a _very bad thing._ Minori's crying draws me to the bathroom, where Yuka starts patching up Mayu first. _No…It should be Minori who goes first…She's the youngest; she doesn't know how to deal with the pain._ My eyes are glued to the floor; it breaks my heart to see them like this. "…Nana?"

"Okay, before you blame me for letting their asses get kicked, _I didn't see it coming_," she clarifies. "I was just helping Minori get a milk jug down when the bullies came-"

My anger spikes. **"WHAT?**!"

"WAAAAH!" Minori sobs, plopping herself on the floor.

"Lucy! Minori-"-Yuka starts.

Nana interrupts her. "It was those bullies that Mayu knows!" she exclaims. "They said they had some unfinished business with Minori and-"

Kota barges in. "Hey, what's with all the yelling?" he demands.

**BAM!**

Every human flinches as the portion of wall behind my head is obliterated. _**Human filth! Those bastards couldn't let it go! THOSE LITTLE RAT ASS BASTARDS!**_ "Lucy, calm down!" Nana scolds. "Minori is not going to get better watching Lucy act like this!"

"WAAAAH!" Minori continues. "LUUUCY!"

The mentioning of my name brings my sanity back a little. I glance at her and step over, sitting criss-cross-applesauce (shut up) in front of her. "Shh," I pat her head. "You'll wake up the Americans."

This causes her to stop, but not in a good way. She glances up at me and tilts her head, the red-RED eyes staring at me. "Amur-i-can?" she asks, pronouncing it slowly and still managing to sound like one.

I nod and grab some bandages and meds from next to Yuka. "Yep!" I shout (okay, still angry; trying not to decapitate all the civilians). "Like we're Japanese because we live in the country Japan; they're American because they live in the country America." I pinch her nose and twist it back to its correct position. Then I start to apply the swelling ointment.

Minori is surprisingly still when I wrap her head with bandages. Nana takes a few bandages from the cabinet and starts washing out the cuts. Yuka tends to Mayu as Kota leans against the door frame, gritting his teeth. I guess he feels ashamed because he wasn't there to help them…_Don't worry Kota. I feel the same way you do._ Minori, now with a mummy head, wobbles over to Kota and sits on his foot, asking him about peaches. Not sure where that came from, but okay.

The next morning, I wake up screaming. This is mostly because of the _damn seven year old _hovering over my _face_ with a_ mummy face_. She blinks, all puppy-like, and starts screaming to. _REALLY BAD TIME TO BE COPYING ME, MINORI!_ Yuka runs in, scolds me, and moves on.

Checking the calendar after breakfast, I sigh in agitation before ripping off the page. It is now June 1, 2012. In two days, Minori will have been with us for a full month. Isn't that exciting? Of course, if she gives me any more morning heart attacks, the Veggie Monster _will_ put vegetables in her room until _DEATH_.

…Okay, **maybe **that was a bit harsh…I turn to Yuka to ask if harsh thoughts about your children is normal, but I get scolded again. Once she moves on, I start to question _her_ sanity.

Before lunch; Nana, Mayu, Minori, and I are playing in the yard when Minori scrapes her knee on some rocks due to limited sight. She cries and we rush her in. Kota tries to patch it up without Yuka's knowledge, but this chick is a fucking bloodhound, you hear? Yuka scolds _me_ for not being a good observer and letting Minori trip and fall. I start to think of the many ways to tear her apart, limb-by-limb at that.

Since God apparently hates it when I take a day off to relax, he forces other incidents with Minori to happen. The worst comes at dinner, when Minori is racing around the table, pretending to be an airplane. "Honey, that's not safe," I say around the fiftieth time she passes me. She ignores me and makes another lap. "Minori, stop. You're going to run into something!"

"No I'm not!" she giggles. "I can-"

And, unfortunately for the eighteenth time today, she trips over none other than my arm, which I had decided to lean on before dinner. She goes barreling into the fridge and a flower pot on top smashes onto the ground. _God. Seriously. STOP._ "I told you!" I rush over as she wails.

"I'M SORRY LUCY!" she cries.

"Oh hush." With this, I smack her arm lightly. "Don't apologize for being young. Now-"

I am shoved to the side. Blinking and checking my head to make sure Miss Nyuus-A-Lot stays in, I turn to see Yuka picking up Minori. "Aw, Minori, don't cry!" she coons as she helps her up. Then, of course, she glares at me. "Lucy!"

Enough of this shit! "I didn't do anything!" I shriek.

"You had your arm out!" Yuka scolds.

"Oh, my arm was out, I'm so _fucking sorry_ for leaning on something!"

She turns red. "You could've leaned _forward!_ You knew Minori was running around, and yet you still had your arm sticking out! Are you _trying_ to kill her?**!**"

My face flushes red as well. "YES! I AM TRYING TO KILL THE GIRL _I_ GOT OFF THE STREETS AND BROUGHT HOME! I AM JUST ONE OF THOSE PEDO-PSYCHOS, YOU KNOW?**!**" Mayu flinches. I can't necessarily blame her, considering her past. "BECAUSE THAT JUST MAKES _SO MUCH __**FUCKING**_ **SENSE**!"

Yuka opens her mouth to make a comeback, but it never comes out. Why? Nana has her elbow gripped. "That is enough," she states robotically. "You cannot fight all day."

_Wanna bet?_ Something tugs on my shirt and I look down to Minori with teary eyes and a hand on her head. "Lucy, my head…"

"Oh right," I sigh, bending to pick her up. "Well, let's-"-Then I notice Yuka bent down, trying to get Minori as well. "…What are you doing?"

"I'm going to help Minori, unlike what you're doing," she snarls. Minori flinches at her tone and hops into my arms. "Aw, don't be afraid, sweetie~"

Thought on her comment: RAPE! RAPE! _RAPE!_ Seriously, WHAT ARE YOU SAYING WOMAN?**!** I turn my body away from Yuka, my head still in her direction. "Say that to _other_ little kids, you mad woman!" I gasp.

Yuka raises a brow. "What are you…"Then two and two click in that cob wed-head of hers and she turns red with fury. "LUCY!"

"Well, you're at fault for saying that."

Kota clears his throat and I turn to him. "Well…You probably should have known that's not what she was intending…" he mumbles, scratching the back of his throat.

I shrug. "Whatever floats your boat."

Nana stares at me funny. Mayu taps her shoulder to ask what the problem is. "Kota doesn't have a boat, does he?" Nana asks. All she gets in return is a sigh and a shake of the head. With that, Nana turns back to us and tugs on Yuka's arm. "Look Yuka, just let Lucy have M-"

"Lucy might hurt her though!" Yuka argues. Okay, talk about accusing. With a sigh, I start to walk out. She stomps after me and stands in front of me, reaching for Minori. "Look, just-"

Suddenly, I find myself holding her head away and holding Minori close to me. "GET YOUR MITS AWAY FROM MINORI!" I exclaim, my eyes squeezed shut. Mayu giggles a bit, so I open my eyes and pout at her. "Hey, this is not a laughing matter!"

"It's cute though," Mayu tells me. "You're just so motherly to Minori~"

For some reason, I blush and wave my hand at her in that 'oh you' manner you always see on TV. "Well, I'm just being a reasonable-"

"**WHAT THE HELL?**!" Yuka roars, possibly making my eardrums explode. "Being reasonable is not holding my head and keeping me away from a girl that I _accepted _into_ our_ house!" She motions to Kota and herself. "Without our permission, Minori couldn't be here! So stop treating it as if _you're the_ only person helping her!"

Minori blinks at us, keeping silent all the while. I set her down just in case I feel like I have to punch Yuka. "I'm not! And that _is_ reasonable because you won't accept the fact that I am trying to help her! IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE YOU YUKA!"

Both of our heads are slammed together and we fall back. Due to the double head-hit, the possibility of Nyuu coming out is cancelled. Isn't math lovely for doing that? "I think that's enough fighting for one night~" Kota hums as he takes Minori, setting her back. "Okay, just eat your dinner Minori and we'll check on your head after, okay?" She nods and complies.

Meanwhile Yuka and I seethe in rage as Kota sits there smiling, not minding it at all that he just bashed our heads together.


	16. Month

Linkinparkfan9799 Stories

_Elfen Lied-Anime_

_Rated T for Gore and Cursing_

**Minori**

_**Chapter Sixteen**_

_**Month: Minori**_

_**They treat us like shit. You need to kill before they do. They treat us like shit! You need to kill before they do! THEY TREAT US LIKE SHIT! YOU NEED TO KILL BEFORE THEY DO!**_

_Briiing!_

_Briiing!_

_Briiing!_

_**THEY TREAT US LIKE SHIT! YOU NEED TO KILL BEFORE THEY DO! THEY TREAT US LIKE SHIT! YOU NEED TO KILL BEFORE THEY DO! THEY TREAT US LIKE SHIT! YOU NEED TO KI-**_

"LUCY!" I pound on her door. "LUCY!"

She throws the slide open, her hair tangled up and her eyes bloodshot. In one hand she has a can of soda. Can she not sleep either? "Minori…I love you and all, but do you know what _time_ it is?" I look at the ceiling in thought before shaking my head. Lately, I've found it hard to look at clocks with all these wraps around my head. "_THREE. IN. THE. MORNING._"

I blink in confusion and let my head fall to the side. "And you're drinking soda? Lucy, the Tooth Fairy is not going to be happy when she comes to collect rotten teeth that fell out…" She slides down a bit against the slide-frame. Or door-frame? Whichever works I guess. "Why are you moving down? The floor isn't really all that soft, you know."

With a groan, she holds her head and glares at me. I guess she's just not a morning person. "Ugh…Could you at least tell me why you're here?"

"I couldn't sleep," I say, hugging my pillow closer to my body. "I was thinking that I could sleep with Lucy instead!"

Lucy stares at me for a second before sighing and motions into the room. "Okay, Minori, but keep in mind that-"

"Yay~!" I run in, sitting next to the mat and lying on my pillow.

"…That it's still three…" she finishes. Closing the door, she drags her feet over to the mat and lies down, hugging me like one of those teddy bears Mommy gave me once. For a while, I can sleep, but…

_**They treat us like shit. You need to kill before they do. They treat us like shit! You need to kill before they do! THEY-!**_

"IT'S FOUR IN THE MORNING!" Lucy yells. I scream and cover my ears, crying. "Aw, Minori, don't cry! Shh, shh, shh…" I go down to whimpers as she says this. Knocking comes to my attention and Lucy drags herself to the door, me in her arms. When she opens it to Kota, she looks like she's about to rip someone's head off with her own bare hands! "Kota…It's. Four. In. The. Morning. Can't whatever it is wait?" Kota shakes his head and she sighs. "I'll be back, Minori." With that, she shuts the door.

Sitting alone in the darkness is a bit scary. All the shadow patches look like monsters that want to eat you. Some even look like the Veggie Monster! I guess I'll have to get Hanta again, just to be safe. After all, we don't want anyone ripped to pieces, raped, eaten, then forced out in the most disgusting way possible (the potty…ulck!). I try to look around to distract myself from all of it, but there isn't really much to look at. I mean, Lucy has a dresser, a few globes with white stuff and plastic figures in them, and her mat, but that's pretty much it.

_Weird, that white stuff looks like snow…_I stand up and walk over to look at the globes. One has a little girl playing with her puppy on white ground. A second has a man next to a lamp-post with a piece of paper in his hands; his mouth is open like he's eating the air. The third and fourth are similar, because they both have trains on rails, except one is white and one is gray. I take the one with the girl and shake it; the white stuff dances because of it. For some reason, it reminds me of snow. Snow is cold and white and small, but I can't tell if this is cold. After all, I'm not inside. Maybe if I shrunk, I could find a little door and go in with the figure to see if it is cold…

Lucy comes back after I set it back. She says nothing for a while; all she does is lean against the door with her nose pinched. Is she trying not to sneeze or something? I drag my hand across the dresser to look for dust, but the thing is pretty much as clean as a baby's tush after the doctors clean them of the blood from fighting the stork to the death so they can get to their mommies and daddies. At least, that's what Daddy told me. So, bottom line, it's not the dust. Maybe she's just sick? Aw, poor Lucy…First thing in the morning, I'm going to ask Yuka to make Lucy some soup so she can get better!

I wobble over to my pillow and lie down to sleep. However, I can't with Lucy nudging my back. "Do you like snow-globes?" she asks.

This makes me jump up with glee and squeal with joy. I don't think she appreciates it though, seeing as she looks like someone scratched their nails on chalkboard (believe me, it's not a nice sound). "So that _is_ snow!" I cheer. Running over to them, I grab one and shake it a little. "Teeheehee! Snow! Snow!"

She blinks before coming over and kneeling next to me, one hand on my head. "Yep; that's snow. Hey, Minori, want to know a secret?" I nod. "You can't tell anybody, okay? It's just between us." I nod again, and this time I think I heard something shift with it. "Okay." Her voice drops so much, I can hardly hear her next words. "Those are real people."

"REALLY?**!"** I gasp.

Lucy claps a hand over my mouth and presses a finger to her lips. "Yep. Real people. You see, snow-globes are the little windows to the dead people." Now I'm confused. She giggles; probably because my head is as far right as it can go and my body is about to fall over. "That's why there's snow. It's to give the dead people a nice surrounding after death. Hence the term 'rest in peace'; the snow gives them a peaceful after life."

Oh. Now I see. I turn back to the globe and poke it, the girl still chasing her dog. "What happened to her?" I ask.

"Oh, she got hit by a car when she was running with her dog," Lucy says. "This is why you look both ways when crossing a street, Minori. And only cross when-"

"-When the little white stick-person comes up!" I finish.

She seems surprised. "…Well, yes. I'm surprised you knew that, but whatever…"

I giggle with accomplishment. See? I'm smarter than I look! "What about that man?" I point to the second.

"Oh, that…Yeesh, those three is for when you're older, kiddo," Lucy pats my head. I pout, but she does not change her mind. "Tell you what. I'll give you a special snow-globe one of these days. You know, a little spirit to help you when you're confused."

The shadows go away when I smile. "Really?" She nods. "Oh thank you Lucy!" That's when I tackle hug her.

She falls and something cracks. Maybe the floor cracks easily? "OOMPH! Jeez kid, you sure can tackle!" Lifting me off of her person (which makes me sad, by the way), she sets me on the mat while holding her left hip. Oh…"How 'bout this? You sleep here and_ stay_ here for the rest of the night-with no giving people hip fractures-"

"-What's a fracture?" I ask.

Lucy sighs before scratching the side of her head. "…Um…" she hums. "I…It's like a crack in your bone. You know, like cracks on a sidewalk?" Wait, so her bones are sidewalks now? I tilt my head to the left to show my confusion. Lucy gets the hint and sighs, lying down next to me. "Just ask Kota in the morning, okay? Anyways, if you sleep and stay here for the rest of the night-and I mean it-I will get you ice cream ca-"-I don't know why she cuts herself off when I lie down to go to sleep.

I wake up some hours later only to get my eyes to burn. "TOO MUCH SUN! TOO MUCH SUN!" My screams stop when I slam into the clock and I fall on my rump. In all honesty, that thing is as hard as a car's behind, and trust me Daddy ran into one on my birthday once and broke a rib. It wasn't pretty. Kota and Yuka rush over to help me out and Mayu comes with ice. Nana, being Nana, throws pieces of paper in my face. "Oye! What's that for?" I whine.

"It's for the party," she blinks. "Today's your one-month anniversary of coming here." Oh. So it's June third, huh?

Mayu sighs and pats Nana's back. "That _was_ supposed to be for a bit later when Lucy got here…But oh well." Wait, Lucy's not here? "Why're you giving me that look, Minori?"

I'm still trying to process what I just heard. "…Lucy's…not here?" I ask. It comes out as a squeak.

Yuka smiles and pats my head, trying to seem as nice as possible. She probably is actually thinking what sort of stew I would go nice with…After all, I suspect her for eating Hanzel and Gretel (no idea why she would be in Germany and suddenly move to Japan though…). "She went shopping; don't worry~" she hums. Maybe she ate Lucy to?

I turn to Kota so he can either tell me that Yuka's right or nod while holding up a note saying 'help she's going to eat us all'. He nods, but he forgets to hold up the sign; bummer. "Well, let's get some breakfast," Kota suggests, pushing himself into standing position. "After all, you can't have cake until you-H-Hey Minori!"

"CAKE!" I squeal, running into the kitchen. "Cake!" A cabinet is opened. "Cake!" The fridge is opened. "Cake!" The sink cabinet is opened. "Cake." Another cabinet is opened. "Cake." I look under the table. When I sit on my knees, I scratch my head and blink in confusion. "…Cake?"

Giggles ring and someone picks me up. My natural reaction is to kick (like Lucy's natural reaction to Nana taking her cereal in the morning is to shove her in the fridge apparently). "Why're you kicking?" Yuka asks. "Training for kung-fu? Eheh~" Not sure what kong-fu is, but I decide to giggle anyways. It just sounds like a funny word, you know?

"I'm home!" Lucy calls from the front slide. Something plastic is dropped, so I decide to see what happened. When I get there, all I see is Lucy taking her shoes off outside and a bag on the floor in front of her. "Hey Minori. Happy one month!"

I smile and run over, hugging her legs. "Thank you Lucy!" I cheer. Then I go back to the bag. Seriously, it's so small…How long was Lucy gone? "What's in the bag?"

Lucy picks me up from her legs and picks up the bag in her free hand. "You'll see after cake," she tells me.

"Cake!" I cheer. "Cakecakecake-"

"OKAY, OKAY!" Lucy clamps a hand over my mouth. "Jesus kid, I didn't think you'd lose your head over cake…" She jumps when I scream and cover my head. "Oh. It's an expression Minori. It means 'to go crazy', not that your head is actually off…"

I peek out from under my arms. "Really?" I ask. She nods. "Okay~" With that, my arms fall and Lucy carries me to the kitchen, where there is a cake on the table. Where did that come from, I wonder? She sets me down and I run over, staring at it. It's a three-layer monster with the bottom and top layer being white fluff and the middle being brown sludge. Covering the top is more brown sludge with tiny candies spelling out 'Happy Month Anniversary, Minori!'. "…How does the cake know my name?"

Everyone laughs and Kota pats the spot between my horns. I guess that means that I'll know when I'm older or something like that. My mom told me that when I asked her where old people always run off to, so I sort of expect that answer now. Maybe they just don't know? Shrugging it off, I accept the fork Yuka hands me and the plate Mayu hands me. Lucy cuts the cake as Nana whines about why _she _didn't get to cut it (which are the same complaints I want to voice right now…).

Sitting down, I smile and dig into the bag Lucy had. Inside is a little keychain with a glass ball at the end, a white ground holding a little angel about my age. "Pretty!" I squeal, hugging it.

"Oh darn it Minori, that was for later," Lucy chuckles, messing up my hair. She lifts up her cake and says, "Well, happy month-stay to Minori, and hopefully many more!"


	17. Garbage

Linkinparkfan9799 Stories

_Elfen Lied-Anime_

_Rated T for Gore and Cursing_

**Minori**

_**Chapter Seventeen**_

_**Garbage: Lucy**_

I nibble my chopsticks.

Kind of boring, I know, but there's just not that much to talk about today. I mean, Yuka is sleeping, Mayu's at school, and Nana is feeding the birds outside. Kota is eating, Minori is clinging, and I, myself, nibble constantly at wood like a fucking woodpecker; minus the actual pecking.

I glance down at Minori and poke her with the non-saliva-covered end of one chopstick. "Aren't you supposed to be eating?" I ask, smiling a little.

She giggles and removes herself from my person. Grabbing her chopsticks, she works at erasing the existence of her food. Around her neck is the little necklace I got her on the third. For your-the anonymous 'they'-information, it is two days from the third. Meaning, in idiot terms, it is the _fifth._

And we have yet to dispose of the garbage from the party.

Surprisingly, we got quite a bit. Yuka and Kota got Minori gifts themselves; so did Mayu. That added to the wrapping paper. Then the cake was bigger than I thought it was, so more plates for us. In all, it makes a half of a bag. See? This is why I told Mayu **not** to trust Nana in wrapping her gift to Minori. Also, we're out of wrapping paper now thanks to her! What if I need to wrap something, hmm?...Gah, what am I saying? It's not like we have a party every day here, anyways.

Well, that aside, I've noticed that Kota's been eyeing it. It gives me an eerie feeling as to what he is going to do next, mostly because I don't want to take it out today and my butt is numb. Before nasty thoughts enter 'thy mind' (Shakespear), let me just say that Minori stabbed me in the leg this morning with an allergy pen because she was trying to play pirate and didn't know the needle was out. I guess that would explain today's clinging, but she always clings, so I don't bother to ask her about 'why' anymore.

As she goes on by crawling up my back and clinging to my shoulder to squawk like a parrot, Kota, finally puts down his bowl of Miso Soup. Now, I have complained in the past about the lack of proper eating here. Even _I_ have had Miso Soup, Steamed Rice, Tamagoyaki, and Nori for breakfast, but **no**. If you live here, you have to eat one of the options as a meal, and Nori is not as filling as it may sound! Maybe I can take another whack at getting a decent meal chart for us until Kota is done with whatever his is going to-

"Lucy, could you take out the trash?"

-…Say. Jeez Kota, at least let me finish absent-minded-thinking time! I take the chopsticks out of my mouth and toss them into the bag, seeing as there halfway gone anyways. "Isn't it _your_ job to clean the place?" I raise a brow. I mean, he complains about it every which way; it's become clear that he is Mr. Janitor of Maple Inn.

Kota rolls his eyes and crosses his arms, somewhat cross. "Hey, that's everyone's job."

"I don't have to do it!" Minori, raises her hand, giggling. I guess she's so happy because she finally got those bandages off. Although, I wish they were still on; those bruises are kind of gross to look at…

"Do you want that to change?" Kota huffs, narrowing his eyes at Minori. She shakes her head with a pout. "Thought so."

Now it's my turn to be all pissy and rude. "Don't be mean to my little Minori," I mutter. Patting Minori's head, I stand. "You stay here with Kota, okay Minori? I'll be back _reeeeeal _quick."

She nods. I grab the bag and open the slide. Out another slide gets me into the front yard. Another brings me to the path outside of the inn. Down the steps and to the dumpster is all that's left, ne? _Pat-pat-pat. _Why are the stairs wet? It's not like it rained. Glancing down, I see that it is wet. There's a discarded water-bottle in the bushes. Why do humans have such disrespect for the nature? I pick it up and toss it into the bag before getting down and jogging to the dumpster.

I use my vectors to open the lid. Now, it's not so bad; I mean, I'm just not umber-tall is all. Glass shatters and shifts when I toss the bag inside. _Done and done. Now back to-_**You liar**…_._E-Excuse me? I shake my head and turn back for the steps. Must be my imagination. **You liar.** Okay, what is this? I stop to hold my head. Stop, just stop. You're supposed to be gone; extinct. **You liar. **What am I lying about.** About that girl….**Minori?

**You say you like her. You say she's the most precious thing to you. Well, how's that true? All you care about is yourself. **She's a Diclonius to; what the Hell is _your _problem, Miss I-Must-Populate-The-Earth-With-Dicloni? **She's dangerous.** She's _seven._ You're not scared of S.A.T or a group of around ten adults, but you're scared of a _seven-year-old._ How pathetic. **She's dangerous. **Stop repeating things! **Her presence alone is deadly; always so happy and go-lucky…**Shut up! There's nothing wrong with that!

You hate humans! Minori isn't human! Why are you bashing on my little Minori?**! Stop calling her that…**Why not? She's like a sister to me-a daughter even! **WHO CARES IF SHE'S YOUR DAUGHTER?**! **SHE'LL KILL US!**...W-What?** You're the queen of the Diclonius race; of course you have daughters already. By her age, she probably is one. **Now that I think about it, she is around that age…**See? Any time now, her vectors will come out a-swinging. **

Wait, that doesn't mean she'll attack _me, _or anyone of the inn for that matter. **You don't get it, do you? Have you forgotten Mariko?** No! **Remember how she was to her precious father? That **_**scumbag**_** human that tried to kill her because she had horns?**! Quite clearly; yes. **She was **_**five.**_** Minori is **_**seven.**_** Trust me, you-**Oho! Trust _you? _The bitch that ruined my life? HA! **THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH HER!** MINORI IS FINE!

Ugh, GET OUT OF MY HEAD! I grab the wall. **What are you doing?**! _CRACK!_ **STOP! You'll kill us both! **_CRACK!_** STOP IT! STOP IT STOP IT **_**STOP IT!**_ _CRACK!_ Ugh…Too much blood…Is this how people feel when they get their heads bashed in? **STOP! **_**STOP IT YOU MORON!**_

"Lucy~ Where are-…_AAAAAAAAH_!"

"Minori?**!** What's-"

Little hands grab my leg. "LUCY! LUCY, WHY'S-"-_CRACK!_ **STOP IT!** _CRACK!-_"-YOUR-"-**YOU'RE GONNA KILL US!**_ CRACK!-_"-HEAD-"-_CRACK_-"-ALL BLOODY?_!_" **ENOUGH! **STOP PINNING ME-_CRACK!_ AGAINST MINORI! STOP TALKING TO ME! GET!_ CRACK!_ OUT!_ CRACK!_ OF! MY! _CRACK!_..._Thump._

"LUCY!" Shaking. "LUCY, WAKE UP!"

"LUCY!" Sobbing. "DON'T LEAVE MINORI!"

…Ko…ta?...Girl. There a girl…Who that girl?..."Nyu?"

**Sorry for the long wait and short chapter; you probably want to kill me right now, but I just have so many stories to write…;( Gommenasai! **


	18. Nyu

Linkinparkfan9799 Stories

_Elfen Lied-Anime_

_Rated T for Gore and Cursing_

**Minori**

_**Chapter Eighteen**_

_**Nyu: Minori**_

I nibble my nails.

Yuka keeps telling me to stop; it's unhealthy. I don't want to though. Lucy lost a lot of blood…That, and she keeps poking my chest. What happened to Lucy? Nana sighs and pats my back. I guess she's trying to be of some comfort. "This is Nyu," Nana says. "She's…"

"Nyu!" Lucy cheers, waving at me.

…"That's Lucy," I blink. "Her name's Lucy, not Nyu."

Mayu scratches the back of her head. She sighs and hunches forward. "This is what we call a _split personality. _When Lucy-san hits her head, she turns into…Nyu," Mayu explains. Oh. Well that wraps it up.

Nyu sits up and hugs me, 'nyu'-ing constantly and smiling a lot. It makes me wonder if the Veggie Monster was _banned_ from being around her, so she's all happy about it. I refuse to hug her back, however, seeing as she is not Lucy. Lucy is…well…Japanese. Nyu is Nyu-ese apparently. Speaking of which, where is the country of Nyu? I don't think anyone's told me about it before…After all, she gets the 'Nyu' from somewhere, right?

Yuka is tense about something; not sure what. Kota is also tense; I can tell since he's watching Nyu carefully. Nana and Mayu are sort of behind me, for whatever reason. Nyu keeps 'nyu'-ing and poking until finally, I pop the question. "Are you guys afraid of getting poked or what? You seem so scared!"

They exchange nervous glances. This brings on further confusion in my head. Yuka sighs and reaches over to pat my head. "You see, Nyu-AAAH!"

I stare as Nyu grabs Yuka's chest and starts doing weird things with it. I turn to Mayu. "What's she-WHO PUT THE LIGHTS OUT?**!**" I try kicking to see what happens. Seriously, why did things go all dark all of a sudden?

"NYU! STOP THAT!" Kota?

"Nyu! Nyu-Nyu!" Okay, that one's obvious.

"Why does she do that…Just why?" Okay, is that Mayu? Wait, that's Nana…No, Mayu-Wait, Nana-SOMEONE PUT THE LIGHTS BACK ON!

Some time passes and my eyesight returns. My crying eventually willed the lights to turn on, I guess. Nyu is sitting in a corner, being sad, and Kota is lecturing her about not grabbing peoples' boobs. Not sure what he's talking about, but whatever. I poke at my chest and pull out my shirt to see, but all I see is skin and ribs. Maybe I should try eating more…"What are you doing, Minori?" Yuka asks when she walks back in, armed with a slipper and a pillow-chest-plate.

Daddy told me about Knights and how they wore chest-plates in the old days of some places (and how we had Samurai and ninjas instead). Why is Yuka trying to be a knight? Instead of answering her, I hop on over to Nyu and pat her back. "It's okay! There's nothing to be sad about!" I get a simple 'nyu'. "Sigh…This is going to be a toughie, huh?"

"Nyu?"

I groan in defeat and start being sad in the corner next to her. She panics and hugs me, 'nyu'-ing her head off. When I make no reaction, she starts shaking _my _head off. "AAAH!" I yelp. "NYU! STOP! AAAAH!"

Kota tries to pry us apart, but she seems set on making me happy. It's hard to smile when your head is going back and forth at what feels like 299,914,928,819,919,515,819,258 swings per second. Yuka hits her with the slipper and I am released, but nobody's really happy when I barf on the floor.

Later, I am eating on the mat in my room, mostly due to the fact that my stomach is sick to the core and if I move around, I might barf again. At least, that's what Kota said. I trust Kota more than Yuka; Kota didn't eat Hansel and Gretel, after all. If anything, I think he was their dad, and Lucy was their mom. Man, I wish I was Gretel…Well, in the sense I get to be Lucy and Kota's daughter, not eaten. I already have nightmares that the Veggie Monster is going to eat me (lessening each day; yay~), so I don't need to be thinking about Yuka the witch stuffing me in a pot and cooking me with Udon.

Someone knocks on the slide. "Come in?" I say.

"NYU!" _Ah horse shit._ Who cares if it's a bad thing to say/think? IT'S HER. Nyu sits next to me and looks at me with a worried expression. In all honesty, if Lucy met Nyu, I have high doubts that Nyu would walk away with her head…After all, people rip off other's heads when they're angry. That's what Daddy told me at least. "Nyu nyu!" She offers me a bowl of sorts, but the clumps of rice and vegetables inside make my tummy go spinning.

Despite the barf lodging itself in my throat, I talk just fine. "T-Thanks Nyu…B-But I'm not hu-hungry…" I shake my head to make my point clear and lie back.

Unfortunately, Nyu knows less than I do. So, taking that as an invitation of sorts, she grabs the spoon and starts stuffing the junk down my throat. As I gag, struggle, and reel, she 'nyu's away like she's an angel and feeds me this stuff. Nana comes in and pries Nyu off. When I ask her why she's here, Nana says that she was looking for Nyu so that she didn't kill me or something. Well, no offence to Nana, but she could have been faster! I THOUGHT I ALMOST DIED FOR A SECOND!

Yuka lets me sleep in her room, seeing as I now fear being alone due to the fact that Nyu can come in again and try to kill me. Lying next to her mat with my pillow, I dream about bunnies and Lucy sitting in a field with my parents, inviting me over for Onigiri. I start running for them, but I fall into a hole in the ground and Nyu comes with a fork-looking thingy* and something coming out of her butt**. She laughs evilly (like Yuka in witch form) and starts burying me in that junk she was force-feeding me. I wake up screaming my head off.

The next morning starts off fresh with a re-telling of **that**. Mayu gets worried and takes me outside to play. However my tummy does not feel any better, so I puke in the bushes. Yuka isn't real happy with that, to be honest. Once again, I sit on my mat with my pillow, but Nana is playing cards with me this time. None of the inn trusts me with Nyu at this point.

Despite all the dressers and stuff we had piled next to the slide, Nyu barges in and starts playing cards with us. It's not so bad at first, seeing as she isn't touching us, but then Nana and I remember she has no clue what we're doing and how to play. She ends up 'winning' every game by slamming her cards down and cheering 'Nyu'.

More and more accidents happen until I finally snap and pin myself to Kota's leg. He takes me to the bathroom to wrap up the holes I put in both of us so I would stick though. Not sure why he is so against me being pinned to him; it gets me away from Nyu, doesn't it?

At lunch, Yuka starts telling me about their past 'ex-per-ee-rents' with Nyu. She likes to squeeze chests, be weird, eat, be weird, sleep, TRY to help out (Yuka makes sure to make the 'try' as loud as possible), be weird, and bathe other people. By the sounds of it, Lucy has some very messed up split personalities. "And don't even get me started on her sayings…" Yuka groans, holding her head as if it hurts.

"Wah!" I whine. "How can Lucy come back? Nyu is-"-I cough a bit and find some barf on my hand; I am quick to wipe it off. "…Well, Nyu. She's Nyu."

Yuka laughs nervously and pats my head from across the table. "Oh, it'll be gone in a few days, I think…"

A few days go by, and you know what? **SHE'S STILL HERE.** "Nyu! Nyu!" Nyu laughs as she scrubs the window, smiling happily. It turns to confusion when I start knocking on her head and yelling 'IS LUCY IN THERE?**!**'.

I ask Kota for the way to get Nyu back; he says it'll go away. I go back to Yuka; she says it'll go away. I go to Mayu; she says it'll go away. I go to Wanta; he barks at me and runs off to Mayu. Finally, I am left to ask Nana, and in all truth, that's not such a bad idea. After all, Nana, Lucy, and I are all the same. Nana would know more about Lucy's situation than anybody, right? I find her washing the dishes in the kitchen. "I'm sorry Minori," she apologizes after I ask my very, _very_ important question. "The way to do it is to hit her hard in the head, but you can't do that…It's rude."

"Aw man!" I whine (again). I find myself having to whine a lot lately and it bothers me. "But it won't be that bad, right? I mean, if Lucy finds herself suffocating me and being all dumber, she'll be sad, won't she?"

Nana gives me a look that tells me she's not completely with me on this. "I don't know…" she sighs.

"PLEASE!" I beg, clinging to her leg.

She gives me a long stare before sighing again. This time, she nods and starts drying her hands with a towel. "Okay then. So, how do you think we'll get Lucy back out?"

I think. All we have to do is hit her head, right? There's a frying pan on the counter, and the clock in the hall is big enough to hide me next to it…"Let's try tripping her!" I cheer. "And if that doesn't work, we always have a frying pan."

Nana glances at the frying pan and grabs it. "Okay. Where are we going to trip her?"

"By the clock~"

"How're we-"

"You lure her!"

She slumps and starts walking out, sad. "Of course…Well, get to the clock, and hurry!" I nod and rush out to get on the other side of the clock. Like I said, it's big enough to hide me, so we should have no problems in tripping Nyu. Besides, it's for a good thing, right? This won't make me a bad girl or anything, right? No, of course it won't. I wait, and wait, and wait, but it feels like hours before Nana comes with Nyu. "Come on Nyu!"

Nyu is following behind, running. I guess her running could cover up me actually tripping her. "Nyu! Nyu nyu!" she yells, panting. I guess Nana caught her on the other side of the inn. I stick my leg out and shut my eyes tight. _I hope this works!_ "NYU!" Something heavy slams into my leg and Nyu goes barreling through the front slide. I fall back and hit my head against the wall, causing something inside to swing almost as fast as I did days ago.

As I try to get my sight into focus, Kota, Yuka, and Mayu rush out. I guess the crash was louder than it was supposed to be. "NYU?**!**" Kota yells. He rushes out of the hole in the slide. "Nyu, what happened? NYU?**!**"

"Ngh…Head…hurts…" Lucy? "…Were's Min-? GAH-HAH-AH!"

"Luc-!" I push myself up. My stomach spins and I barf again.

Yuka and Mayu catch this. "MINORI! Calm down; Lucy's fine!"

"…Minori?"

I puke again and fall on my butt. I start crying. "Tummy hurts! Tummy hurts!" It does! It feels really sickly…Yuka picks me up and starts running to my room as I listen to Lucy yelling my name outside.

***-Pitchfork**

****-Tail**

**Gommenasai for the late update; testing started this week…**


	19. Silence

Linkinparkfan9799 Stories

_Elfen Lied-Anime_

_Rated T for Gore and Cursing_

**Minori**

_**Chapter Nineteen**_

_**Silence: Lucy**_

I praise Yuka for her EXCELLENT babysitting skills.

Seriously, I leave for a few days, and Minori gets sick. Even Nyu would know to keep Minori away from herself! Of course, the others have partial blame for it, but I mostly blame Yuka on this. I mean, she should KNOW by now that Nyu is missing a few bolts in that head of hers!

Right now, I'm stirring a pot of chicken-noodle soup. Kota told me about Minori's reactions to Miso soup, Udon, and thick stuff. Since I'd rather not turn Minori _into_ Miso Soup or Udon by feeding it to her all the time, I decided to go American and try that out. Although I lack confidence in their recipes, since the rumor that all Americans are fat has to come from somewhere, right? A scary thought; especially when you're subjecting a poor seven-year-old to it.

I go into Minori's room and I see Mayu sitting on her knees. Beside her is Minori's mat with a lump in it. "Oh golly; wherever did Minori go?" I chuckle. The only reward for my crack is a disapproving shake of the head. "Oh what? Did Yuka say I can't make jokes anymore or something?"

"No…" Mayu sighs. "It's just that Minori doesn't seem to like noise. She has a blanket over herself because Nana was in here earlier…" And just like that, I understand how much pain the little Diclonius is in.

There's no real place to set down the bowl, so I just put it next to her head. "Poor thing…Having to listen to Nana's yammering," I whisper.

Mayu shrugs. "Well…Oh whatever; she's that bad." Giving the lump a little pat, she stands. "Yet, she makes a good friend. Just because she can go on a bit longer than desired, it doesn't make her a bad person."

I fake a few seconds of thought. "Uh…Yeah, it does." She giggles and starts to walk out. "Hey, what's so funny?" The slide opens and shuts. "…What's so funny?**!**" Something rustles and I turn back to the mat to see Minori staring at me. Wait…No, she's glaring! Is she actually glaring at me? "…Sorry, must've woke you up." She says nothing. Minori lies there, glaring at me. "…'Kay then."

Awkward and confused, I leave in order to search for Yuka. After all, when something is wrong, people should always blame Yuka first. If a girl is blushing and going 'some boy violated me!', then that's the time to blame Kota. 'Some girl's dog nearly tripped me!' is Mayu. And 'Who's the idiot?' is Nana. Yep. I've got it _ALL _mapped out in my head.

She's in the kitchen, stirring something in a pot. Lately, that seems to be all she does! Yuka turns when she hears me step in. "Oh, hey Lucy! I'm making some soup for Minori, so could you-"

"I already made some."

Yuka blinks, surprised. "…Oh. Well, I guess this could just be lunch then…"

I shrug and shut the slide. "Hey, did you tell something to Minori that was not really in my favor?" She tilts her head like Minori does when she's confused. "Minori's been glaring at me, so I thought someone said something that didn't make me look like a good person."

"Well, you have been Nyu for quite some time…" she sighs. "I mean, it's already the eleventh."…What. "Maybe she just doesn't think you're back to 'Lucy'."

Now _I'm _the confused one. "Why would she think that? I haven't said 'nyu' all day!" Yuka just shrugs. "Ugh…The things that happen when I'm 'Nyu'. I'm glad I fell and hit my head!" She tries to reason with me when I stomp right back out into the hall.

Looking around the inn, the only people I can find are Mayu and Wonta (even then, he's not exactly a person). Apparently Kota and Nana went out to get medicine for Minori. Not sure how that'll help, seeing as my own fevers couldn't go down even if you shoved my head into the water (and trust me, the orphanage tried that once). Yet again, I don't think Minori has a fever. Guess I'll check…

When I re-enter Minori's room, I find her glaring at the ceiling. I guess she's just grumpy today; would be to if I got spun by Nyu. "Hey Minori…" I whisper, slowly closing the slide. "Listen, could you tell me what's the problem?" Silence. Okay, I guess she's giving me the silent treatment for spinning her. Yep. That's it. I tip-toe over and put my forehead against hers. Even though she's glaring, I still want to make sure if she has a fever. "…A little feverish, but nothing too serious." I sit back up. "Is it just your tummy?"

Again, she stays silent. All she does is glare, and glare, and glare even more (if that makes any sense). Probably just the 'sickly sevens' or something like that. I don't really know, seeing as I've never been an ACTUAL mom before. Never will be considering my circumstances. So, gathering that the kid just needs some space, I leave the room in thought.

What's wrong with Minori? I get that she's sick; I could hear it clearly when I first woke up some hours ago. Yet, that's not my fault, is it?...Well, granted it's _Nyu's_ fault, but _she_ is not _me_. There is a major difference that kids probably wouldn't get. I mean, what else could she be glaring at me for? Either she's pissed at me for making her feel 'icky' (something she would say), or she's pissed because of Nyu in general, **MAYBE** me being loud earlier. Anything else is just, well, crazy.

At lunch, the front slide opens to Kota and Nana. Both have large amounts of medicine. "We're home!" both announce, kicking off their shoes. Kota is the first to notice me. "…Lucy?"

"Yep?"

"Why are you behind the clock?"

Oh, just trying to fix it, stare at the dust, and observe its beauty. I roll my eyes to myself. Seriously, _WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE I'M DOING?_ "I'm standing here, what else?" I snap. "For crying out loud, I'm not going to stand in the middle of the hall waiting for you two!"

They still look confused, despite my logical explanation. "Why not just hang around with Minori?" Nana wonders.

"She's all pissy today," I shrug. "Keeps glaring at me like she wants to rip off my head." Not like she can; otherwise I'd have seen her vectors by now.

Nana, however, seems worried. She drops her bag on the ground and rushes down the hall to Minori's room. Kota and I watch as she retreats and go to the kitchen by ourselves. Yuka sets out bowls of soup and walks out to fetch Mayu and Nana. We eat with plenty of meaningless conversation (the way I like it), but Nana's spot remains empty. Did she fall in a pit or something?

Hours pass, and Yuka starts making dinner. We all decided to leave Nana's lunch soup, since she might as well have it for dinner. What none of us can help but wonder is why she never came out. Nobody wants to check Minori's room, since she seems kind of off today, but I guess I should. After all, if Minori is…No. No she's not. I refuse to believe it! _**Idiot…**_Oh just shut up! Jeez, won't you disappear?

Stomping to Minori's room, I fling the slide open. "Nana, for Christ's sake, why are you-!" I stop when I take into account Nana trying to rip her horns off with her bare-hands. "…Nana?**!" **

"She's…She's…No…NOT MORE! NOT MORE!" she cries, trying to rip off her horns with more aggression.

"NANA STOP!" I rush over, slapping her. She blinks and holds her cheek. At least the hands are off her horns. "What's the matter with you?"

Silence falls over before Nana points to Minori. "She's…I feel something…It doesn't feel-"

"Nana." This gets her to stop in mid-sentence. "My voice is coming back. Minori is _fine._"

She still looks unsure of it. "…Really?" I nod. "…Okay, I'll believe you…" Nana stands up to leave. However, she stops at the slide with her head hung. "But…if she's turning into Diclonius like you and Mariko…" Turning around, her eyes glare at me with immense hatred. "**I WILL NOT HESITATE TO END HER ON THE SPOT.**" With that, she leaves.

Dumbstruck; that's a good word to explain my status. I can understand why Nana would say that, even though she couldn't even swat a fly. A glance at Minori shows her glaring at me, again. "…Don't listen to her, Minori," I sigh. "Diclonius can be good."

"Lucy! Dinner!" Yuka calls. I walk for the slide.

A cold aura stops me in my tracks. My horns tingle with another presence that is not my own. I whirl around to see Minori, sitting up and glaring. "…_**They treat us like shit…You need to kill before they do…**_"

Okay, now I'm _horrorstruck._ Is that even a word? Oh who cares at this point! "Wh-What?**!**" She stands. "Mi-Minori?"

Her bangs shield her eyes as she grins. The pearly white teeth are clenched together, as if the smile is forced. _**"Realize that someone's gonna die…Realize that Minori is going to be MINE."**_ The smile fades and Minori falls, unconscious. I rush out with no other word.

At night, I try to sort in my head what the fuck just happened. Minori…She's turning, isn't she! No…NO! Nonononononono! Minori is going to be a good little Diclonius! She's not going to…She's not-!I'll never-! I REFUSE TO LET HER-!_** Let her what?**_ In a void of black, with only me and my DNA inside, she crosses her arms and glares. _**You refuse to let her…what? **_I clench my teeth.

I refuse to let her turn into myself.

I refuse to let her get bullied. I refuse to let her lose a friend. I refuse to let her lose all sanity. I refuse to let her kill. I refuse to let her be hunted. I refuse to let her be captured. I refuse to let her be tested on. I refuse to let her die inside. I refuse to let her slaughter. I refuse to let her cry. I refuse to let her die. I refuse to let her die! I REFUSE TO LET HER-!

"Luuuuuuuucy-y!" someone hiccups. Is that Minori? "Minori scared!" Yep. It's Minori. Before I get the _chance_ to stand up, she barges in and tackles me. "Minori scared! The girl won't go away!"…Girl? "Minori scared, Lucy!"

As she bawls, I blink. There was a time…when she claimed someone was in the forest. There was a time…when she claimed someone was watching her. There was a time…when she claimed that she couldn't sleep. That girl…That voice…Her-She…I bite my lip and hug Minori. "Don't worry, Minori…" I squeeze her tight and let a few tears slip. "She's not going to get you. I'm here." And I mean every word.


	20. Advice

Linkinparkfan9799 Stories

_Elfen Lied-Anime_

_Rated T for Gore and Cursing_

**Minori**

_**Chapter Twenty**_

_**Advice: Minori**_

I praise Lucy for protecting me!

Seriously, ever since I blacked out, Lucy's been very very nice to me! She's even letting me sleep with her at night! And here I thought she wasn't a morning person. Hey, maybe bandages lower your smartness? Eh, who knows? Point is: I'm happy!

Yet again, I got _really _scared when I woke up on the eleventh (or twelfth if you're nit-picky). That girl appeared again. I tried to think her away; it didn't work. Throwing the pillow didn't work, either! All she did was stood there and…_grinned_ at me. Her teeth are in top-notch form though, I'll admit that much. Seeing as I wasn't going to get up and get near her, I thought _'Lucy can help!'_ and therefore ran to Lucy. It worked, so I must be getting smarter and smarter~

Today's the fourteenth of June. I know because Kota got me a calendar when he went shopping with Nana. On every day that goes by, I put a little report and stuff it in my pillow case so I can read what happened on that day. So far, I've gotten through all my stay here and April. My stomach doesn't like me working on this through breakfast, but I really just want to get this done so I don't forget everything.

Yuka seems to not like it either. Honestly, I think she's just alive to be a babysitter for everyone. "Minori, eat your food," she orders. "Otherwise it's going to get cold."

"But I'm working…" I pout.

She points to my breakfast and I put down my pen with a pout. Lucy puts it back in my hand though. "Let the kid work, Yuka," she yawns, stuffing some rice into her mouth. "The kid can just eat it for lunch…"

Kota looks like he ate something sour. "Lucy…She's seven. Minori needs to eat properly in order to grow nicely…" he sighs. She gives him a questioning look. "…NOT IN THAT SENSE, STUPID!"

Lucy starts laughing, almost choking on her food. I hit her back so she doesn't, though. Her coughing goes away after a bit. "Okay then," she giggles. Lucy looks pretty with a pink face~ She notices me smiling. "…Please don't tell me you got the joke to."

"Nope, not at all!" I cheer. "What's funny is Lucy's face, teehee!"

She blinks and pats at her face. Nana is laughing her butt off as Mayu stares in shock. Yuka and Kota are trying to hold back laughter and Wonta is barking. I guess he's laughing, but since I don't speak dog, I wouldn't know. "Something wrong with my face, exactly?" she asks. Lucy sounds sad…sadly. Heehee~

I shake my head. "Nope! It's just really pink."

This is when she starts tickling me. "That happens with everyone, kiddo!"

After a while, my chest starts hurting, so she stops tickling me and we go into her room to read from the Dictionary. It's getting really cool lately; there are so many words! Although Lucy keeps inking out some. I know one was 'crap', but I don't see what's the big deal about it. At one point, Kota tells Lucy that she has to help clean the blood off the wall she left some days ago, so she has to go. I'm just left here to my thoughts.

My hands beat against the floor to give some noise. I swallow big amounts of saliva for some taste (and so I can make sure I'm still breathing when I choke on it). Rolling around stabs splinters in my upper arms. Everything stops when I see the girl. She's in the corner, curled up in a ball. One eye is showing, sparkling in my direction. _**She hates you…**_The girl points to her head. _**The girl up there hates you…I don't though. She's just stupid. I know you're not bad…**_

"Shut up!" I shout. "Go away! Go away-!"_** That won't work.**_ "Go away! Go away!"_**It's useless…**_She's walking to me; her hand is reaching for me. "Go away! Go away!"_** You're…mine…**_"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" I bolt out faster than if someone said 'which witch knows which witch is which'.

Yuka runs down the stairs and gets in front of me, making the collision between us. She grunts as I fall on my butt. "Minori!" she cries with worry. "What's-!"

I ignore her and run out the door. "LUCY! LUCY!"

Kota and her come up running. "Minori?" Kota gasps.

Lucy seems more worried. "Minori, what-"

"WAAAAAAAAAAAH!" I tackle her legs. "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" It takes a bit to calm me down.

At lunch, Yuka lightly kicks her foot back and forth as I cling on. This is fun, to those that think not. It's all swinging and what not~ She giggles at my happy face and keeps chopping the vegetables. "You seem happy now."

"That's because the scary girl isn't here anymore!" I cheer. She blinks at me. "What? Do you guys not believe me still? There's this creepy girl around!"

I guess I must have a certain look on my face, because she seems scared now. "…What does this girl look like?" she asks. I shrug. "You don't know?"

Well, kinda hard when she's all shadowy. I tell her this and she just shrugs. Since nobody is telepathic, I guess I should just explain everything else that happened. About the forest, about the night everyone called her a liar, everything I tell to Yuka. She might eat kids, but this might help clear my name of being a liar. Also, it might get the others to believe me and help me to.

When I get done, she bends down to my level. "Minori, if this girl's real-"

"-She is!" I protest.

Yuka pats my head and shushes me (which I don't find all that nice). "Well, I've never seen her," she assures. "Now…If this girl comes again, try saying 'you're not real'."

"I did!"

A bit saddened, she sighs and hugs me. Hopefully the next thing that happens will not be a trip to the oven. "It's okay Minori…Look." She pulls away and taps my head. "If the girl comes again, the first thing you do is run for someone. You know, like Lucy and me." Run for someone? "You obviously can't handle her alone, Minori."

Well, I could've thought of that! I might be seven, but I ain't stupid!...Okay, maybe a bit. Point is, I think I would have ran if I felt that I could. And…Well, I don't think I can run from this girl. Mommy always said that negativity leads to failure, so I guess I should try to stay positive for a bit. "So…If I stay positive and run for an adult…I'll be fine?" I ask.

"Exactly," she giggles. "Now, want to help me set up lunch?" I nod and start putting out the bowls.

Lunch passes with laughs and smiles. So does the rest of the day before midnight. I can't sleep, because I'm too busy staring at the shadows in my room. Curled up in the corner, I grip my little snow globe. Help me. Help me. Lucy said you'll protect me, so please. Maybe I should just go sleep with Lucy? Nah, there's no real threat at the moment…Besides, she was here this morning. I've noticed that she doesn't appear a lot. Maybe she can only come at certain times?

Guess I should go to sleep, huh? Crawling to my mat, I grip my globe tightly and shut my eyes. All I see is black, just black. I look down and I can't see my hands. My feet, my body…nothing's there. Where am I? _**Kill…**_No! _**Kill…**_SHE'S HERE! My eyes shoot open and one red eye is all I see. _**"KILL."**_

"GAAAAH!" I push her back, making her go through the wall. How did she do that? Up I go and out the slide, rushing to the nearest room with an adult. I can't go to Nana and Mayu, since they're only, like, five-years-older. I mean, they're kids to, right? People like Lucy are adults, being a high age like that. _**Kill…**_Ugh, lemme think for once, would you? Wait…NOT THE PROBLEM HERE! _**Kill…**_

A loud slam comes to my senses. My body acts on its own as I tackle someone. "YUKA!" I squeal. Oh, that's who. "I'M SCARED!"

"Whoa!" she blinks. "Calm down, Min-"

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" My face feels hot and wet, for some reason. "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Lucy rushes in. "Minori?**!"** she gasps.

Yuka sighs and pats my head. "It's okay, Lucy…She just had a little scare." Yeah, and I'm probably about to have a new one if she even _thinks_ about seasoning me before stuffing me in the oven. I AM GRANTING HER MY TRUST; SHE SHOULD AT LEAST KEEP IT.

Everyone else rushes in as Yuka and Lucy hug me, pat my head, and tell me 'it's okay', even when I tell them they're big fat liars and that they should sit in a corner and think about what they've done. They must know that Mommy told me that, since they just keep hugging me and patting my head and telling me 'it's okay'. Kota demands what's going on, and why I keep telling them to sit in the corner. Mayu joins the hugging part, but at least she's not telling me 'it's okay'.

Nana…Nana's different. She's just standing at the door, holding the frame of the slide. Her eyes are kind of dull, like she's not actually here. Did the girl make her an empty shell or something? No…That's impossible. Sure she went through the wall, but there has to be some reason to that, right? The Veggie Monster came into this world by a vegetable patch struck by lightning during a tornado, after all. See? Minori smart~ Back to the point, what's wrong with Nana?

Lucy picks me up and faces Nana. "You just going to stand there?" she grunts. She gives the top of my head a little kiss, like Mommy used to do. "Wanna sleep with Lucy tonight?" I nod. "Okay then. Say night to everyone~"

"Night!" I giggle. It's nice when she treats me like this. Everyone says 'night' back (Nana a bit more quietly). We go into Lucy's room and I hop next to her mat. She slips inside and hugs me like the teddy bear she seems to think I am. After some time smiling at the ceiling…"Lucy, is Nana okay?"

She grunts and flicks my nose. Ow! "What brought this on?" she wonders. I tell her about the lifeless look in her eyes. "…She's fine, Minori." Lucy closes her eyes again and settles back into sleeping position. "She's just worried about you…Like the rest of us."

"You sure she doesn't hate me or anything?" I ask.

Lucy nods and pats my head until I fall asleep. Somewhere, in the field of dandelions and bunnies, I hear one voice. The voice sounds like Lucy, but she seems…sad.

_She's just…worried about you…_

**-Author's Note—**

**Interesting fact about this chapter: It got delayed by a day due to internet problems. Seriously, right when I finish, my internet crashes. ; - ;**


	21. Revenge

**Minori: HI! –Waves-**

**Linkin: Eh, hi everybody! This is just a little apology for the late updates. It's summer, so I've done more getting distracted and doing chores (curse you mom) than thinking and updating, therefore getting Writer's Block and Writer's Panic. So, sorry for the wait, and here's the next chapter! Also, if I do not update in the week or the next day, I'm most likely riddled with WB. Kay? Thanks!**

* * *

Linkinparkfan9799 Stories

_Elfen Lied-Anime_

_Rated T for Gore and Cursing_

**Minori**

_**Chapter Twenty-One**_

_**Revenge: Lucy**_

I wonder about people at times.

Looking around in the store, I can see a lot of kids running around by themselves. Seriously, do people have no feelings for their children? At least Minori is…Oh crap, where's Minori! "Minori!"

"BOO!"

"GA-HA-ACK!" I jump, whirling around and pointing a carrot at Minori. Seriously, a carrot? Man have I gotten pathetic…"You scared me, Minori!"

She giggles and tilts her head to the side. There is no response for me, but I do take the warm smile as something resembling an apology (or a laugh in the face) and move on with life. Glancing at Yuka's (rather large) list of "necessary" ingredients for future meals, I pick up a carton of milk and go over to the tomato crate to get at least ten. Seriously, how much money does she think we have?

"Lucy, Lucy!" Minori squeals. "Look! Pretty dress!"

Some women over by the bread snicker and scoff. "Such a noisy child…" one crinkles her nose in disgust.

"Someone 'ought to teach her some manners!" her friend straightens, strutting over next to me.

Out of all honesty, I have a few choice words for le' bitch lying in wait on my tongue. Sadly, those range from PG to RRRRRRR, so I'll just keep my trap shut. Looking in my bag, we only have enough money for the list and a little extra. That little extra is 1,000 yen. Minori skips over with the dress, all bouncy and happy. "Look! See? Isn't it pretty?" she giggles. Oh, and just my luck; 1,500 yen.

Man…Is this the feeling people get when they _REALLY _don't want to break the bad news to people? Is it? 'Cause if it is, it sucks. "Yes, it's nice…But we can't really afford it."

"Aw…Really?" she pouts.

This sucks…I nod and pat her shoulder. "Put it back, would you?" I sigh. Minori complies and runs off to put it back from God-knows-where. I get my pen and cross off 'milk' on the list before continuing the shopping extravaganza. I cut a few things off here and there, since they seem completely useless. Like 'bleach' for example. Unless Yuka's planning to poison us, it's not necessary. That, and I don't want the kid getting her little paws on it!

One more thing is left, but I cross that off instantly. Yuka isn't putting 'bras' in our food any time soon I swear it to you. Well, that's it. Finally; I thought it would never end. How does Yuka manage to do this every month? Or Nana or Kota or Mayu for that matter. You know what? Just throw in the other seven billion people in there. I don't get shopping PERIOD.

Okay, so all I have to do is grab Minori, buy this crap, and go on home to sleeping all day and getting kicked in the side by Kota until I wake up. So-Wait, where's Minori? Minori! Turning around, I don't find her there. I would've figured she would just be looking around behind me! "Minori!" Not at the bread. "Minori!" Not at the milk! "MINORI!"

"LEAVE! ME! ALONE!"

"Hahaha!" _Crash!_ "Make me, horn head!"…Oh _HELL_ no.

I find the clothes section and I see Minori, surrounded by the same pricks that beat her up, and the dress on the rack. At least she followed directions…"Hehe, horn head~ Horn head~" one of them chants. The rest just laugh at Minori's misery.

So, I stomp over. I tap the leader's shoulder and he turns around. "Yeah, wha-"-I punch him in the face. As hard as I can, as fast as I can, I punch him in the face. "OOF!" He crashes into the rack and becomes buried in clothes.

The other two turn in shock and stare at me. Minori smiles and tackles me around the waist. "Lucy!" she cheers. Then she points to the boys. "They're being mean to me again!"

"I can see that Minori," I pat her head. "Now…" A glare is sent to each boy. "Who's first?"

They seem confused. But I stomp forward, grinning like a maniac. My DNA is prodding at my brain to go out and kill, but I ain't killin' today. Instead, I'm going to kick their scrawny asses and send them to the hospital!

* * *

"…So…Let me get this straight…" Kota blinks. "You beat up three boys at the store…In front of Minori…With all the food we were supposed to have for the month."

"Yep."

Minori giggles and clings to me. Ah…Same as usual. Mayu smiles softly while Nana gives me a thumbs up. "Well, I would be on edge, but those guys had it coming to them!"

Kota sighs and scratches his head, lurched over the table. "I don't know…I mean, you still don't-"

"Kota," I interrupt. "They beat up Minori, Mayu, and Nana. Don't you think that it's fair that I kicked theirs in return?"

He's silent while Yuka walks in with the stuff I bought today. Sure some is a little damaged, but it's edible. "Hey, Lucy?" I turn to her. "Where are the…you know."

She's probably trying to hint at the bras. Wouldn't blame her for not wanting to say it in front of Mr. Gropes-A-Lot here (sorry, but it's the cold, cold truth). "Didn't buy them."

"Huh?**!** Why?" she whines. Does she really want to eat bras that much?

"Dude, you sent me out to buy the food for the month. Unless if you plan on deep-frying…THAT…then I wasn't going to buy it!" It's a solid point, isn't it?

She seems upset still. Well, she is a dense person. Yuka just needs a few seconds to process the valid argument in my statement. "But…You bought Minori a dress…We're not going to eat that!"

I shrug and grin. "Eh, what can I say? I'm a softie for kids."

Minori giggles and tugs at the skirt of her new dress. Honestly, I just needed something to make sure that she wouldn't be all scared about the bullies. Speaking of which I should wash the blood off my knuckles soon…"No you're not!" Nana bursts, breaking my line of thought. For crying out loud, RESPECT THE THOUGHTS PEOPLE…Yeah, I'm going insane. **Going?** Shut up! "If that was true, you'd be nice to me!"

"Shut the fuck up and eat your dinner," I jab my chopstick at her. Some ramen goes into my mouth and I cross my arms. Case closed.

As we eat, Minori giggles and pokes her mini-snow globe. I swear she says 'thank you' to it from time to time…Eh, what can I say? I did tell her the thing was going to guard her. Hmm. Maybe it'll make her feel a little safer now that it 'saved' her from bullies by having me there to kick their asses.

* * *

**-Author's Note-**

**Review and favorite please! **

**I won't know that people want a faster update if you don't freaking review!**

**X'D**

**Sorry, but that's the truth.**

**See you next chapter!**

**Minori: Bye!**


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